Zootopia: Two Worlds, One Family
by emmydisney17
Summary: Co-Authored with White Hunter. Ella, an orphan girl from a human only town, arrives in Zootopia and becomes close friends with a con artist fox named Nick Wilde, who is far more then what he seems. When the first bunny cop, Judy Hopps, enlists their help they end up on an adventure that starts with a missing mammal case and becomes a conspiracy gone horribly wrong.
1. Chapter 1

**Zootopia: Two Worlds, One Family**

 **Chapter One**

 **Beep! Beep! Beep!**

The sound of her alarm clock going off awoke 11 year old orphan Ella as she rubbed her eyes and turned off the alarm. She sighed sadly because she had been in the middle of a wonderful dream; a dream she always had since she was little and longed to make come true. She got out of bed and walked over to the large mirror she had in the corner of her room and looked at her reflection.

She stared at her beautiful bright blue eyes and ran her fingers across her long, curly brown hair, her medium toned skin was smooth and shined in the sunlight of bright morning, giving her a warm feeling inside her as she opened the curtains to see the world outside her home; The Red Panda Orphanage.

The Red Panda Orphanage had been her home ever since both her parents died at a young age in her life. Ella never knew them much but she kept some of their things under her bed, as she felt they kept them close to her. She was also a little lonely since no one ever came to adopt her, but never gave up the fact that she'll be adopted some day and when she did it would be the happiest day of her life. Somewhere out there in Willow River Town, there would be a wonderful mom and dad who would come and look for a sweet, carefree and thrifty little girl and she would be the one.

But what could she offer? There were all kinds of children who had talent and skills far better then her. Tika could make anyone laugh with her endless gags and pranks whenever they were feeling down, Franklin was super athletic and could jump higher and father then anyone else alive. And the twins Louie and Celia were dubs heroes when they tricked a mean bully into confessing her school was giving rich kids good grades and everyone else bad ones on live TV and everyone in it, corrupt students, mad teachers and even the principle of the said school went to jail for life and the school shut down.

All Ella had was just one dream; a dream to go to Zootopia.

Zootopia was a place unlike anything Willow River Town, it was a massive city with districts based on different landscapes for all it's inhabitance to enjoy. And the best part? Everyone in Zootopia was an animal who lived lives like everyday humans. Although Zootopia and Willow River Town were almost like neighbors due to their cities being the closest to each other, no human has ever sit foot in Zootopia ever since... the Hunt.

The hunt began a hundred years ago when what was meant to be the most wonderful wedding in the world, had gone horribly wrong when the whole human group donned guns and weapons and began hunting down the animals of Zootopia, using the wedding as a ruse to trick the animals into lowering their guard. The Hunt lasted for several weeks before it was finally stopped by two girls, Amanda and Alyssa, who gathered as much animals as they could and defeated all the hunters, locking them in cages before sending them back home where they would all spend the rest of their lives in jail.

No one knew what ever became of those two girls because on the day they saved Zootopia, they went back to Willow River Town and never returned. Ever since then, Zootopia had banned humans from Zootopia in an attempt to prevent another hunt from ever taking place. However Ella knew that one day it would change and she would be able to walk around in Zootopia and make as much friends as she wanted.

In the meantime, she would stick to making friends and wait for adoption day to come, which would be in a few days from now. She walked out the door, still wearing her key and heart themed pajamas and went to the kitchen for breakfast with the rest of the orphans. Some were still in their pajamas and others were dressed in regular clothes and some were still half asleep as their heads nodded off from side to side with sleepy eyes.

Rosita, the nanny, gave everyone bowls of cereal and a small piece of paper. "Good morning children!" she said happily "I have some exciting news! The mayor has organized a special contest to change history and lift the human band on Zootopia, by sending three lucky children there!"

The children were amazed by the news and Ella was so happy she could burst as she opened her piece of paper to reveal that it was a flyer advertising the contest. Ella read the rules to herself; the rules were simple, write a letter about your favorite animal, what you would do if you meet the animal and how it would benefit both Zootopia and Willow River Town in a way.

The she looked at the deadline... and her heart sunk. The very day the winners would be revealed to the public and travel to Zootopia was on a Thursday... the very same day Adoption day was being held at the orphanage. Which means that if she won the contest, she would have to miss out on being adopted. But if she didn't enter she would never get another chance to go to Zootopia. What would she do?

She felt a hand on her shoulder and realized it was Rosita, who's warm brown eyes and gentle smile always made her and the others feel better the moment they saw her and she said "My dear, you can enter first. After all, it's been your dream, why not seize the chance while it's still there?"

"But... what about adoption day?" Ella asked

"There will be other adoption days," Rosita told her "But this kind of contest will only happen once... so what are you waiting for?"

Ella smiled at the nanny before she said "Hand me a pencil and paper... I know just what to write for the contest."

With that she scarfed down her food and rushed back to her room to snuggle with her beloved toy, a stuffed fox plushy she named Hal, and hugged him before kissing his head and saying "Don't worry Hal, Zootopia won't be so far away now... and I have a feeling that the first fox I meet will be as gentle and kind as you."

Upon kissing her toy once more, Ella went to work on writing her letter, already picturing herself frolicking with various animal friends as she put all her heart into her letter before sending it to the nanny for her to deliver to the post office along with the others' letters. There the letters would be sent and hand picked by the mayor herself, and Ella could hardly wait for the big day to arrive.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Ella couldn't believe it as she stood on the train platform with a large smile on her face. Ella had won the contest to travel to Zootopia with a kid from a middle class family and another kid that was from a higher class family within Willow River Town. Ella was wearing a short sleeved orange shirt with a white flower on the front, blue jeans and brand new slip on shoes that the nanny back at the orphanage gave her. The slip on shoes were a sparkling blue with white soles. Ella had her hair tied up in a braded ponytail that hung down to the middle of her back. On Ella's left wrist was a golden flower bracelet with diamonds on it. The bracelet once belonged to her mother before she passed away and now Ella wore it all the time so that she will always keep her mother close to her heart. Ella was holding a purple suitcase that had all her clothing and the necessities she needed for her trip to Zootopia.

As Ella stood on the train platform she turned to look at the other kids who had won the contest as well. One of the two kids was a 12 year old boy with short brown hair, hazel green eyes and light peach skin with a few freckles on his face. The boy was wearing a black blue short sleeve shirt with a picture of a tiger on it, brown pants and black runners. The boy also had a brown roller suitcase that held his stuff in it.

The second one, also the last one, to win the contest was a 13 year old girl with long wavy black hair, brown eyes and light tan skin. The girl as wearing a blue dress and white slip on shoes with flower designs on them. The girl had a light blue suitcase roller that was slightly bigger then the boy's.

Ella decided to talk to the kids for a while until their train arrives, so she walked up to the boy who was the closest to her. The boy noticed Ella as he turned to look at her in surprise.

Ella introduced herself "Hi, my name's Ella, what's your name?"

"I'm Jason William," said the boy with a smile "Are you one of the kids that just won a trip to Zootopia?"

"Yep," answered Ella with an excited nod "It's always been my dream to see Zootopia ever since I was little."

"Cool," said Jason "I'm going to Zootopia because I want to learn more about it's culture and what kind of animals that live there are like."

"I don't see how that can be fun," spoke the 13 year old girl as she entered the conversation "Besides, the only thing that I am excited about is seeing the latest fashions they have there and going on a fashion safari."

Ella and Jason looked over at the girl in surprise before Ella decided to introduce herself.

"Um... hi, my name's Ella."

"My name's Isabella Waters," the girl replied as she looked Ella over "And from what I can see you aren't like us, are you?"

"No," said Ella with a shrug of her shoulders "I actually came from an orphanage."

"An orphanage?" Jason asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Ella said with a sad smile "I lost my parents when I was really young. My daddy was killed in a car accident when I was two and my mommy died from an illness when I was three."

"Sorry," Spoke Jason in sympathy.

"It's okay," reassured Ella.

Jus then two adults came onto the platform as they walked towards the children. One of the adults was a beautiful 29 year old woman with light brown hair that grew down to her shoulders, green eyes and flawless peach skin. The woman was wearing a light green button up work suit over a white short sleeve shirt, a black skirt that reached to her knees and two inch black high heels. The woman was none other that Lisa Conner, the mayor of Willow River Town.

Walking beside the mayor was a 30 year old man that had curly red hair, blue eyes that were hidden behind black rimmed glasses. The man was wearing a black button up work suit over a grey short sleeve shirt, black pants and black lace up shoes. The man was Mayor Conner's assistant Jefferson Cedric, also known to be a little clumsy once in a while. He was carrying a large black suitcase, while trying not to trip over his feet.

Mayor Conner soon stood in front of the kids who all gave her their attention as they waited to hear what she had to say.

"Hello children," said Mayor Conner with a smile "I'm here to congratulate you three on winning the contest to see Zootopia. I also like to inform you that you will be staying there for two weeks and to also tell you not to get separated from each other while you're all there. Zootopia is a very big place and its easy to get lost in so make sure that you all stick together and try not to wander off."

"Yes ma'am!" Exclaimed the three children.

"I'm also leaving my assistant with you so that he can keep an eye on you," continued Mayor Conner as she gestured to her assistant "Make sure you all listen to him."

Ella, Isabella and Jason nodded their heads at the mayor before she turned to look at her assistant.

"Alright Jefferson," the mayor said as she gave her assistant a stern look "You take good care of these children and make sure you keep an eye on them."

"Y-yes miss C-Conner." stuttered Jefferson.

Mayor Conner nodded before everyone heard the sound of the train whistle and turned to see the train heading for Zootopia coming. Ella's heart pounded with excitement as the train stopped in front of the Willow River train station. The train soon came to a stop before opening it's doors as the kids and Jefferson climbed aboard. Mayor Conner smiled as she waved to them before the train's doors closed. Ella, Jason and Isabella quickly made their way to their seat as they looked out through the windows of the train to watch as the train began to move. Jefferson found a seat where he sat facing towards the children with an exasperated look on his face.

"I can't believe I've been signed up on babysitting these little brats." Jefferson muttered miserably to himself.

The kids didn't hear him as they only watched the scene fly past them as the train raced down the tracks to it's destination. The kids and Jefferson were the only ones on the train as they rode to their destination. Ella watched the scene for a while before noticing how it began to change. The small town of Willow River began to change to large open prairie lands before it became a large forest. Jason broke the silence as he began to talk with the girls.

"I hope we get to learn a little bit about the history of Zootopia and what things were like back in the olden days." Said Jason

"I hop I get to do some window-shopping when we get there." Isabella added excitedly.

Jason rolled his eyes at that before looking at Ella, asking her "What are you hoping to see when we get to Zootopia?"

"Honestly, i'm hoping to make some new friends in Zootopia," replied Ella with a smile "I'm also hoping to meet a fox there as well."

"A fox?" Questioned Jason in surprise.

Ella nodded her head happily "Foxes are my favorite animal and I'm hoping I get to meet one."

"You must be loopier then my little brother back home." Isabella said with a small roll of her eyes "Everyone knows how sly foxes are, they can't be trusted."

Ella frowned at Isabella, but ignored her as she turned her gaze back to the window and what she saw next made her smile in excitement. right before Ella's eyes was the city of Zootopia as it gleamed within the sun's light. Ella watched in wonder as the train moved closer towards their destination.

'This is going to be great,' thought Ella to herself 'I can't wait to see what Zootopia is like.'

What Ella didn't know was that her adventure within Zootopia was going to be one that will change her life forever along with two special animals who would end up working together on something far bigger then anyone could have ever imagined.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

It was a dream come true as the train rolled across the tracks in the mammal metropolis before it stopped at the train station and slowed to a complete stop inside the jungle themed station. Ella and the other kids were smiling with glee as they saw a welcoming committee lined up in a row from a bunny marching band that came all the way from Bunny Burrows to play the national song of Zootopia for the historic events, reporters from tall elephants and Giraffes to mice and rats with photos and microphones ready to record conversations when ready, curious onlookers held back by velvet ropes to make sure no one crosses over to see the humans up close and body guards with elephant tranquilizer darts in case someone acted out of line.

Ella felt like a celebrity as she grabbed her bags and headed out with Isabella, Jason and Jefferson and as soon as they took their first steps into this strange new world, cameras flashed, animals started cheering and Jefferson walked ahead with Isabella, Ella and Jason behind him as Jefferson said "Smile and wave kiddies, smile and wave."

Ella continued to walk with the others before she stopped to see a rat family waving when one of them, a small child no older then six years old, holding a ball, lost her grip on it and it rolled along the path with the little rat fallowing it, right in front of her Isabella's stomping feet! Quickly Ella dropped her bags and reached out for the rat child, pushing back on Isabella's foot and almost causing her to fall over in shock while Ella scooped up the tiny rat and her ball.

The rat family, who were practically scared to death with their daughter's rash actions, were greatly relived when Ella returned their daughter to her once she got down on her knees to allow the child to slide down her fingers and land into her relived mother's arms. Ella smiled at her first good deed in Zootopia before she rejoined the others with a smile on her face, not noticing Isabella's angry glaring face she made at her for almost making her fall.

While some of the reports interviewed the rat family Ella had just helped, others stayed focus on the main story; the moment when Mayor Lionheart welcomes the humans into his city with open arms. Jefferson was the first one to walk up to the lion with a smile on his face.

"So my fine lion friend," Jefferson started "Are you ready for our stay in our fair city for the next two weeks?"

"Oh yes," Mayor Lionheart said "It was high time that we should put the past behind us and embrace the future with wise actions, kind thoughts and brotherhood between our species."

As they all got into the picture, Ella noticed that a sheep, otherwise known as Assistant Mayor Dawn Bellwether, was having trouble getting into the picture and pulled her to her side so she could join the pictures. Bellwether smiled at Ella shyly before smiling at the flashing cameras along with Ella.

Later they piled into a limo and road over to the heart of Savanna Central, where Ella gazed out and looked all over at the city had, stores, parks, homes, all the typical things she would find back home were the same in Zootopia, just bigger or smaller depending on the animals operating it.

"So, what's the name of our hotel?" Jefferson asked "Let me guess, we're staying at the Palm?"

"Uh... about that," the lion said uneasily as he scratched his head "The hotel we arranged for you to stay in kind of gave your rooms away to someone else by accident."

"What?!" Jefferson, Jason and Isabella exclaimed in shock.

"Don't worry, we have a back up plan!" The mayor assured the humans "Thank to my assistant Bellwether, we found the perfect replacement. It's an old bakery complex that handles your needs, and sizes, just right. So look at it this way, you'll be getting an enriching Zootopian lifestyle with a modest job and home like everyone else."

When they arrived at the bakery, the humans' jaws dropped in shock and horror. The bakery was a run down mess with peeling pale blue paint thanks to it's proper lack of TLC for so many years, it's red window shutters were barely hanging from their hinges and it's blue painted wooden door was so old that anyone could open it and it would break into splinters in their hands.

"Uh, could've sworn it looked nicer like it did in the guide last year." Mayor Lionheart said.

"Maybe you guys can spruce it up a little?" Bellwether asked "After all, I heard how humans can renovate their houses in just a day without needing a day's rest."

Isabella took one look at the building and said "I'd rather sleep outside then in this run down shack."

"Oh no you don't!" Jefferson said, holding back the girl who was trying to make a run for it "Just be glad we have a roof over our heads, even if it may have holes in it, we can fix it and still call it home. We can even start a baking business and make some money."

"That's the spirit," Mayor Lionheart said before he have Jefferson the keys to the bakery and went back to the limo saying "Come Miss Bellwether, we have to finish the meeting with those reporters back at the station."

The sheep hopped right inside and closed the door behind her before the limo drove off, leaving the four humans all alone with the broken down bakery that they would call home for the last 2 weeks. Jefferson walked into the building first, fallowed by Jason and Isabella. Ella was about to go in next when she saw something out of the corner of her eye; a tail. Could it be a fox tail?

Letting curiosity get the better of her, she fallowed the tail while carrying her bags this way and that way through turns and ally ways before coming to a stop at a dark and eerie alley way that looked perfect for the setting of a horror film. Ella was scared and turned away, before suddenly someone grabbed her and pulled her into the alleyway, making her drop her things in surprise.

Ella soon found herself staring face to face with a tough looking adult jackal wearing black clothes and a red jacket. He didn't look very happy to see Ella, in fact he look very angry as he snarled at her and said "What are you doing here you little punk?"

"I...I... I thought you were a fox." Ella said "I'm sorry!"

"A fox? You thought I was a fox?" The jackal asked "Do I look like one of those sleazy, rotten backstabbing crooks?! Didn't your parents tell you the difference between one species from another?"

Before Ella could respond the jackal slapped her face, causing her to cry out in pain before the jackal held her down, sitting on top of her while holding her down and covering her mouth to prevent her from calling for help.

"Now listen up you ugly, mangy thing, you think that you can just waltz around here, flash those big eyes at everyone and soon your surrounded with friends who would love to invite you to parties and such? Well, I got news for you; there is no animal in or out of Zootopia that will be your friend no matter what you do. You and your kind will always be remembered as those monsters who nearly destroyed our beloved home. You and your kind scared us for life... and I'll make you suffer for it!"

He raised his free paw, unsheathing his sharp claws as Ella tried to break free but this jackal was as strong as a whole gang so all she could do was watch on in horror, but before the animal could do some serious damage a sudden blare of police sirens startled them, scaring the jackal so badly he ran away in fear while Ella gasped and sighed, relieved she had been rescued.

She turned to see who it was that saved her and there, smiling and holing a phone which had the siren sounds coming from it was a fox. She smiled as the fox turned off the noise and the phone before he laughed a little saying "Those jackals, one police siren trick always sends them packing. It was a good thing for you that I was just happening home when I heard the commotion, otherwise it would not have been pretty."

"Th... thank you..." Ella said "My name's Ella."

"Nice to meet you, now if you don't mind I have a horror flick marathon I have to get back to in my apartment." The fox said "So see you later kid."

The fox walked off while looking at his phone for some music to play before he realized someone was fallowing him, he turned around and realized it was Ella, holding her bags and fallowing him like a lost puppy.

"Uh, kid, don't you think you should be leaving for home right now?" The fox asked

"I never got to learn your name." Ella said.

"It's Nick, Nick Wilde," the Fox, Nick replied before he said "And right now I have to get home, so why don't you do the same?"

"I would but... I'm lost." Ella said.

It was true, while fallowing that jackal she had gotten herself lost and far from the bakery. She didn't even remember what it was called or what street it was on, she felt worried and rubbed her red cheek in pain. Nick noticed and said "That brute hurt you, didn't he?"

She nodded. Nick felt sorry for her and he said "Well, don't worry, your parents will take care of you."

"I don't have parents." Ella said sadly "I'm an orphan... and right now I feel like an orphan nobody loves."

Now Nick felt bad for mentioning that word to her. He had never met an orphan before but he sure felt bad for making her really sad. In fact, now he was beginning to miss his own parents, especially his mother. He never knew his father because he had died when Nick was a baby and his mother did her best to take care of him all by herself. Nick was lost in his memories about him and his mother from childhood until her death, he sobbed the hardest he had ever had in his life that dark day... and he never forgot it.

"I... I know how you feel." Nick said softly, "I'm an orphan too."

Ella smiled softly at him and Nick smiled back. There was no way he was going to let this human girl wander the streets all by herself, especially with the sun beginning to set. He knew how dangerous the city can be at night and the poor little girl would most likely end up in big trouble without someone to guide her through the city.

He took her hand and said "Stick with me kid, I'll let you stay in my place."

"Really?" Ella asked

"Yeah, you'll love it." Nick said "Nice place to live, great city view, you'll love living with me."

Ella smiled before her stomach rumbled loudly. She rubbed her stomach saying "Do you have anything to eat over there?"

"I could order home delivery." Nick said "You like burgers or pizza?"

"Pizza." Ella said before she scooped up Nick into a hug that lifted the surprised fox off his feet and into the air before she gave him a kiss on his cheek. Nick wriggled out of her grasp and wiped the cheek she kissed him on in disgust "Yuck! What was that all about?!"

"Sorry, I was just so excited I finally have a home of my own, and my favorite animal is my new guardian!" Ella said with glee.

Nick wanted to clarify that just because he was going to take her into his home, it didn't mean he was going to adopt her. But the moment she said 'favorite animal' Nick softened. He had never heard of someone calling a fox their favorite animal before... but it felt so good he decided to let the moment go and soon he found himself leading her back home to his apartment with him carrying her things.

'This kid and I are going to get along just fine.' Nick thought to himself.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

The walk to Nick's apartment was a long one and Ella was getting a little tired. Nick started to notice how tired Ella was getting before he began to speak to her.

"We're nearly there kiddo." said Nick as he encouraged Ella onwards.

Ella only nodded as she fallowed Nick to where his apartment was. Soon Nick turned around a corner with Ella fallowing him and that was when she saw Nick's apartment. The apartment was a 20 story building made of red bricks, the windows of the apartment were slightly dirty but anyone who wanted to look out through them would still be able to see the sights of Zootopia, the sign that was hanging above the main entrance of the apartment read 'Jungle Rumble' and the main doors of the building were made of red wood with a rustic design to it.

"Wow." Ella breathed as she looked up at the apartment in fascination "This is where you live?"

"Yep," Nick answered as he and Ella continued walking towards the apartment "It's nothing fancy, but at least it will give you a roof over your head. So you can stay here until we're able to find that group of yours again."

"Thank you Nick." Ella said as they walked through the main doors of the apartment building "So... where's your room?"

"It's on the fourth floor." Nick replied "But we'll be using the elevator."

Ella sighed in relief at what Nick had just said before she fallowed him towards the elevators. The trip up to the forth floor was a quiet one as they rode the elevator up to their destination. The elevator soon stopped and opened it's doors for it's passengers when it had reached it's destination. Ella and Nick began to walk down a long hall until they stopped at a door that had the number '490' on it.

"Well, welcome to my home." said Nick as he took out his key and slipped it into the slot before unlocking it.

When Nick opened the door, Ella took her first look of Nick's home and she had to say the fox's home was a mess. A few pieces of dirty clothing were scattered on the floor that needed a good cleaning, some dishes within the kitchen were unclean as they were stacked on top of each other on the kitchen and the accessories with in Nick's home were made of a dark green lump couch, a small TV, a coffee table and a bed that was big enough for both Nick and Ella to share. Ella bit the bottom of her lip as she walked into the room and tried to find the right words to say to Nick, worried he might offend him for his sloppy housekeeping.

"Um... you have a nice home here." Ella complemented.

"Yeah, but I'm guessing that your one of those people who like things neat and tidy, right?" said Nick with a smirk as he closed the door when he and Ella entered his home.

Ella only gave Nick a sheepish smile and shrugged her shoulders, saying "Guilty as charged."

"Yeah well, I wasn't expecting guests to stay with me for... how long are you going to be staying in Zootopia?" asked Nick.

"Just two weeks." Ella replied as she walked over to the couch and placed her suitcase down beside the coffee table. "That's how long we're allowed to stay here for."

Nick hummed thoughtfully at that before speaking again "Well, I better start ordering our supper. So what kind of pizza do you want to have?"

Ella thought for a moment before answering "I'd like Hawaiian, please."

"Alright then, i'll start ordering while you make yourself comfortable." Nick said as he took out his phone from his pants pocket and began to dial the number to order their pizza.

Ella sat on the couch and kept quiet as Nick began to talk to the animals on the other end of the phone. She took in more of her surrounding as she looked at the walls of Nick's home. The wallpaper was plain light green in color with no designs on it. Leaning against the left wall was a wooden desk with a chair and sitting on the desk was a picture frame that had a picture of a beautiful slender female fox in it. The lady fox was wearing a blue blouse and her eyes were light green in color. Ella kept staring at the picture, wondering who she was, before Nick snapped her out of her thoughts when he spoke to her.

"Well, pizza's ordered and it should be on it's way in fifteen minutes." Nick said as he tucked his phone back into his pocket "And while we're waiting, we should take care of that cheek of yours."

Ella nodded as Nick walked towards the bathroom and he began to search through the cabinets until he found what he was looking for before he came back. In his right paw he held a healing cream before he unscrewed the lid, took out a decent amount of the healing cream and began to gently apply it to Ella's injured cheek.

"This cream will heal you in no time flat." Nick said "You just have to apply some of it to your cheek for at least four days or so and it'll be as good as new in no time."

"Okay," Ella said with a smile.

Nick smiled back before looking down when he heard a jingling sound coming from Ella's left wrist. The fox spotted her bracelet and quickly became fascinated with it.

"So... where did you get that fancy bracelet?" Nick asked as he screwed the lid back on the healing cream.

"The bracelet belonged to my mother." Ella answered as she held her left wrist up to look at the bracelet "She gave it to me on my fourth birthday before she..."

That was when Ella trailed off as a sad look came over her face. Nick's ears lowered sadly down to his head as he felt ashamed for what he had brought up.

"Sorry," he apologized as he looked away from Ella "I didn't mean to bring..."

"It's okay." Ella said with a forgiving smile "She died a long time ago. I barely even remember her."

Nick placed the healing cream on the coffee table before he sat down beside Ella "Sometimes it's hard to remember the ones you care about when they're taken away from you so soon within your life."

Ella only nodded before she and Nick lapsed into uncomfortable silence. Nick nervously scratched the back of his neck before he began to speak again.

"So... not to pry or anything, but how exactly did you lose your parents?" Nick asked.

Ella thought about it before she replied with a sad story to tell "Well, it all started when I was two years old. My father got into a car accident when he was driving home late from work. It was a rainy night and he was driving carefully through the streets, but soon he got into a collision with a driver who was driving too fast on the wrong side of the road. My mother got news of it the next morning and she became so heartbroken by the news that she nearly fell into depression, but my mom somehow got through it and continued looking after me until I became four. She got sick a few weeks after my birthday and the funny thing was that nobody knows what kind of sickness she had. She died soon after and I was left alone so I was sent to the orphanage and I've been living there for seven years. While living there, i'd always hoped that someone would come and adopt me, but so far... no one has. Today was adoption day back at the orphanage, but I lost the chance when I entered the contest... don't get me wrong I'm glad I'm here and met you... but still..."

"Why did you want to come to Zootopia in the first place?" Nick asked

"Because... I've always dreamed of coming to this city and meet my favorite animal, which is you, and probably make some more animal friends while i'm here." Ella said with a small smile.

Nick began to think over what Ella had said and sighed before he began to speak.

"That's one big dream you have kiddo," he said with a sad frown "But sometimes dreams like that don't always come true."

Ella looked at Nick in confusion "What do you mean?"

"Well..." Nick started before he took in a deep breath "Sometimes people here in Zootopia aren't as friendly as they might seem and the animals, mostly predators, all have a dream that they want to fulfill in this city. The policy in Zootopia always says 'Where anyone can be anything' and animals think that it would mean that they can create big dreams within this city, but they find out soon after that what they wanted to do here, can't really happen. No matter how hard a predator tries to fit in amongst all the prey animals, their dreams wind up being crushed in the end. Believe me, I've seen it happen all my life... I know."

Ella curiously looked at Nick for a moment before saying "Did something like that happen to you when you were trying to achieve your own dream?"

"Yeah," Nick replied with a shrug "But it happened a long time ago and I don't really feel like giving out all the details right now."

Ella sadly looked at Nick after hearing what he had just told her before the young girl lightly hugged the fox to comfort him. Nick stiffened in surprise when he felt the girl hug him before he awkwardly patted her back for a moment.

'This is really awkward for me,' Nick thought before letting out a sigh. 'But I guess I'll just have to get use to it... eventually.'

"Okay..." Nick said as he coughed in embarrassment as he lightly pushed Ella away from him "Why don't you go wash your hands for dinner, because I have a feeling that the pizza will arrive soon."

"Okay," Ella replied cheerfully before she stood up and made her way towards the washroom.

The pizza arrived and after paying for it, Nick and Ella sat down to eat and Ella thought that it was the best pizza she had ever tasted, especially since this was the first Zootopian meal she ever had since she first got here. After dinner the two got ready for bed. Nick put on a stripped button up pajama top and pajama bottoms to match, while Ella got herself dressed in the washroom.

"Hey, you almost done in there?" Called Nick

"Yeah, almost!" Ella replied before she came out in her pajamas.

Nick turned before jumping in surprise when he saw Ella standing in her fox pajama sleepwear. Nick took a deep breath before he scold Ella.

"Don't you scare me like that." he said

"Sorry," Ella said as she gave the fox a sheepish smile.

"Your forgiven," Nick replied before he cleared his throat "Okay, so you'll be sleeping on the couch tonight, alright?"

Ella nodded her head before walking over to her suitcase and pulling out Hal as she gently hugged her stuffed fox toy against her chest. With arrangements made, Ella made herself comfortable on the couch and Nick slipped under the covers of his bed sheets. The apartment was quiet for a while before Nick was suddenly poked awake by Ella.

"What is it?" he asked in a tired voice

"I tried but I couldn't sleep." Ella said as she held Hal to her chest "Your couch is too lumpy. Is it okay if I sleep with you tonight?"

Nick stared long and hard at Ella for a moment before he gave in with a sigh.

"Alright, but just for tonight." Nick said "Just do me a favor and don't snore."

Ella smiled before she climbed into bed with Nick and settled down immediately. Nick soon laid down beside her as he stared up at the roof of his apartment for a moment as he began to think over the day he had just gone through, but his thoughts were interrupted with Ella snuggling up to his side. Nick blinked in surprise as he looked down at the girl for a moment before a gentle smile appeared on his face.

'Yep, this had turned out to be on heck of a day,' thought Nick before he closed his eyes and fell asleep himself.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

The next morning, the sun shined brightly over the shining city as if to signal yet another regular day in Zootopia. Inside his apartment building Nick was snoring as he slumped on his pillow, his blankets wrapped around his waist and drooling a little as he twitched in his sleep.

"Come on baby," Nick mumbled in his sleep "You know you can't resist me. I'm charming, i'm rich and," he chuckled as he pulled in Hal while still in his dream fantasy "Let's just face it; I'm too handsome to go to waste. Let's just cut to the chase already."

He puckered up for a kiss... when he opened his eyes and realized that, instead of kissing a beautiful lady fox, he was kissing Hal the toy fox! Nick screamed as he jumped out of bed and landed with a hard thud on the ground. He groaned in disgust and wiped his mouth to make sure he didn't get anything from the toy, like fuzz, attached to him.

He rubbed his eyes and stretched, still a little sore since he was still recovering from the sudden fall from his bed and looked at his bed to see the toy looking at him with those cute black button eyes.

"Don't look at me like that you stuffed ball of fluff." Nick said "Next time I'll throw you into the trash."

He then sighed as he left muttering "I can't believe it, I'm taking to a toy."

Suddenly Nick got another surprise, instead of his regular living room that was littered with dirty clothes, he was in a living room that was cleaned from top to bottom with his laundry folded nicely on the neatly decorated couch with a flower vase filled with roses on the coffee table and the whole room smelled just like candy apples, probably because of the scented candles that he found on top of the TV.

Nick stood there in shock before he said "This is not my apartment."

"Morning Nick!"

Nick saw Ella, wearing the same clothes she wore yesterday, smiling and giving him a breakfast burger take out from a fast food bag. She giggled as she asked "What do you think? While you were asleep I cleaned up the place. Of course I had help from your friend."

"My friend?" Nick asked, perplexed "I wasn't expecting anyone."

"You mean you forgot me already?" A deep voice answered from behind a counter.

Nick yelped before a small fennec fox wearing a baby elephant costume stepped out and glared at him. "You sure took you time Nick, while you were sawing logs, I endured interior decorating, back breaking chores and being a delivery boy for the breakfast club I apparently joined!"

"He told me that you and he are con artists who hustle others for their money." Ella said before she frowned and said "Is that true?"

"Uh... technically it's not completely illegal." Nick said, half worried that Ella might not like him anymore and half angry that his partner and best friend Finnick had just blabbed about their job to her while he was sleeping "I mean I have my paper work, so technically it's more 'legally adjacent'. Totally legal stuff."

He looked up at the clock and gasped in horror as his wall clock read 9:13 AM. "Oh no! We're late for work! Ella, you come with us and-"

"Oh no Nick," Finnick said "I am not going to play babysitter to a human! Everyone knows that human kids are twice as big a pain in the neck as every other brat in the city."

"Says the adult fox who is wearing diapers and enjoys takes naps in his stroller like a baby." Nick said with a grin.

"I do not wear diapers and I do not take naps in my stroller!" Finnick exclaimed in anger "And we are still not taking her along no matter how much she whines and begs! NO! NO! NO!"

* * *

Later Nick and Ella, carrying her purple backpack (that had been in her suitcase), walked down the street while Finnick slept like a real baby in his stroller, just as Nick said while the red fox snickered at Ella and said "Works every time, he just takes his roll so well!"

"Do... do you enjoy being a hustler?" Ella asked

"Well, to be honest it wasn't my first choice... in fact I wouldn't even be this if..." Nick shook his head fiercely and said "No, no, i'm not ready to tell you that story yet."

"Please Nick... for me?" Ella asked

"Well, for now all i'll say is that when my dreams were crushed, I learned two things; One, never let them see that they get to you and two, if the world's only going to see you as what you are, then there's no point in trying to change that or be anything else." Nick said "Remember what I told you before?"

Ella thought about it and said "Funny, back home everyone's a human but they all are different by appearance and personality."

"Your all the same species." Nick said "And you're the only human by far who would actually be seen with a fox, whom everyone sees as shifty and untrustworthy."

"Well, I know some people back home who are more animal then human." Ella said. She dug around in her backpack and pulled out her phone, showing Nick a picture of some kids dressed as animals last Halloween flashing funny faces and laughing happily.

Nick found himself smiling at the picture and he said "Well, I'll say this, if I ever throw a party I'm inviting you and these crazy 'wild things' as entertainment. You'll be a big hit... but lose the one with the bunny costume."

"Why? Don't you like bunnies?" Ella asked

"Let's just say any animal of the prey family doesn't like me much, and I don't like them back. Especially one rabbit who thinks she's so special just because she is the first rabbit on the police force," Nick said "But the joke's on her, she's a meter maid and yesterday I think it's safe to say..."

His voice trailed off when, coming along in a little meter maid cart, was the rabbit herself. Her gray fur shined in the sunlight, her violet eyes blinked in apparent surprise to find the fox with a human kid and, like Nick said, she was wearing a police officer uniform with body armor and a badge on her chest.

"Speak of the devil." Nick muttered to himself before he smiled slyly and said "Hey, it's Officer Toot Toot!"

"Alright, two things; One, I need your help on the case and two, why do you have a human fallowing you?"

"Okay, for question number two, she's with me and she happens to be my new partner. For question number one, I'm running late so do me a favor and move." Nick said

He walked past the rabbit and her cart but once again, she blocked him.

"Hey Carrots, your gonna wake the baby, I've gotta get to work." Nick said

"This is important sir," Judy said, hopping out of her cart with a case file and her carrot pen "I think your _ten_ dollars worth of pawpsicles can wait."

"Ha! I make two hundred bucks a day fluff, three hundred and sixty five days a year since I was twelve." Nick boasted "And time is money, hop along."

"Nick, why do you have to be so mean to her?" Ella asked "She needs our help!"

"She needs help alright," Nick said "Help finding her way back to the toy store she escaped from so we can staple her back into her box."

"Wait... I know you!" Judy cried as she pointed at Ella "You're that missing human that other human reported missing!"

"Yeah, and if that meathead had kept a close eye on her, she wouldn't have gone missing in the first place." Nick said

"Why didn't you return her?" Judy asked

"The kid forgot her home address." Nick said "So I took her in and now she's with me. So move."

"Not so fast, I'm placing you under arrest for both kidnapping and felony tax evasion." the bunny declared.

"Technically it's not called 'kidnapping' of the kid willingly agrees to come with you." Nick pointed out "And besides, you don't have proof. It's my word against yours."

Judy then surprised Nick by revealing that he had recorded his confession on her carrot pen and told Nick that either she helped him with finding an otter named Mr. Otterton or she would turn him in and he would be in jail for 5 years, maybe more if she included adding charges of kidnapping a human by not returning her to her 'heard' and 'keeping her for himself'. Upon overhearing this, Finnick laughed and slapped a badge sticker on Nick's shirt, the same one Judy had given him not to long ago when they first met her, and walked away.

Nick sighed in defeat and said "Alright, alright, I'll help. But only if you agree to help me get Ella back home. I promised her I'd get her home but, to tell you the truth finding humans in a city like Zootopia would be a problem, especially since they're only here for two weeks and-"

"Two weeks? That's plenty of time." Judy said "I only need two days. But first, you help me. Now where did you last see Mr. Otterton?"

"Well, I saw where he was heading." Nick said before he looked at Judy's cart and said "But of course, I don't see how your cart can fit all of us, so to bad we-Kid!"

Ella had taken out a scooter from her backpack and was already suited up in a helmet and pads, leaving Nick stunned. "I don't have to get in there, I can ride beside you and you can ride with... what's your name, miss?"

"Officer Judy Hopps." Judy said

"Miss Judy Hopps." Ella said "Who knows, maybe you'll even be friends with her!"

"The day I befriend a bunny," Nick muttered under his breath in anger as he got into the cart with Judy "Is the day I throw myself off a cliff."

"What was that?" Ella asked as she rode up next to the pair.

"Uh, I said, I can't wait to get started." Nick said, trying to sound more enthusiastic then annoyed.

As they traveled to Sahara Square, to the place where Mr. Otterton was last seen, Nick sighed to himself and remembered those days that didn't go his way and that feeling of wanting to go back to bed to avoid them in the first place... and now bested them all for sure.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Ella followed along side Officer Judy Hopps' meter maid cart as they made their way to where Mr. Otterton had gone within Sahara Square until they came to their destination, which was a building that had an Asian look to it with a large sign saying 'The Mystic Springs Oasis'. Ella turned off her electric scooter and Judy turned off her cart's engine before she began to make her way towards the entrance of the building. Ella got off her scooter and unstrapped her helmet as she began to follow after Judy, but Nick quickly stopped Ella from taking a step into the building.

"You'd better wait out here kid," Nick said "This place isn't exactly for children your age."

"What do you mean by that?" questioned Ella as she raised an eyebrow up in confusion.

"Let's just say that this place is a Naturalist Club," answered Nick "For adults only, no children allowed."

Ella still looked a little confused about what Nick meant by 'Naturalist Club'.

"Meaning?" Ella asked curiously.

Nick looked behind him to see that Judy had already walked into the building before motioning for Ella to bend closer to his level. Ella knelt down and turned her head sideways for Nick to whisper into her ear before her eyes widened at what the fox had said before looking at him.

"Are you serious?" Asked Ella

"Hey, the policy within Zootopia says 'Anyone can be anything'," Nick said with a smirk "Even if it's animals who like to be in the nude in Mystic Springs."

"Shouldn't Judy know about this?" Questioned Ella with worry.

"I'll tell her after she finds out." Nick said with a chuckle.

Ella gave Nick a look of disproval for a moment before Nick turned serious "But while we're in there, stay out here with the cart and your scooter and don't wander off."

Ella nodded before she watched Nick walk into the building while closing the door behind him. She let out a sigh and sat on the curb as she waited for the two adult animals to come out of the building with her helmet resting in her lap. She then raised her left wrist up to look at her mother's bracelet before sighing.

"This is going to be an interesting day." She said to herself.

Ella waited for about six or seven minutes until she heard the door to Mystic Springs open and turned to see Judy and Nick walking out. Ella quickly stood up and walked towards them.

"So, how'd it go?" Ella asked

"That depends on what you're asking." Nick said with a smirk.

"We got the license plate number for the limo that Mr. Otterton had been taken in," Judy said happily as she held up the notebook that had the number for the limo's plate "Now all we have to do is run it through."

"And I'm sure any moron at the police station can run a plate." Nick said

The happy look on Judy's face fell when realization came over "I can't run a plate!"

"What do you mean?" Ella asked

"I'm not in the system yet." Judy explained before she began to think.

Ella tried to calm Judy down "Hey, don't worry, I'm sure we can find some other way around this."

Nick let out a sigh as he began to think over how he can make this case go a little faster so that he can help get Ella back to her group before an idea came to his head.

"I just remembered a guy from the DMV," spoke Nick as a smirk appeared on his face.

"The DMV?" Asked Ella as she looked at Nick curiously.

"It's short for 'Department of Mammal vehicles,' Explained Nick before he simply added "I have a friend who can run the plate and we'll be able to find the limo."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" exclaimed Judy as she quickly hurried over to her cart and started it up.

Ella looked at Nick before smiling at him "So this guy can really run the plate that Judy got from Mystic Springs?"

"Yep," Nick answered with a smile of his own "He can run the plate like that."

"Well... I'm glad your finally helping Judy out with this case." Ella said as she walked towards her scooter.

"I just hope this case doesn't go overboard," said Nick as he fallowed after Ella "I'm responsible for you and I just want to make sure that you don't get hurt in anyway possible."

Ella looked at Nick in surprise before a smile appeared on her face "Aw... you do care."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's not get all mushy about it," said Nick with a smirk before he hopped into the cart with Judy.

Ella let out a giggle as she put her helmet back on her head and hopped onto her scooter before starting it up. She then followed close beside Judy's cart as they headed towards the DMV. Once the trio got there they entered the building and started heading towards the desk until Judy stopped in her tracks.

"Wait... they're all sloths!" she exclaimed when she saw the slowest moving animals on the planet working at the desks.

Ella was a little surprised by this as well as when she saw the three toed clothes as well. The group continued forward before Judy accused Nick by saying this would be quick.

"What... are you saying that because he's a sloth he can't be fast?" Nick asked, pretending to sound offended for a second "I thought in Zootopia, anyone can be anything."

Ella shook her head while rolling her eyes "And here I thought we were in a hurry."

Nick only ignored Ella as he greeted a sloth that was wearing a light green button up shirt, a stripped necktie and grey pants "Flash, Flash, hundred yard dash. Buddy, it's nice to see you."

"Nice to... see you... too." greeted Flash in a slow voice.

"Hey Flash I want you to meet Ella, a good friend of mine," said Nick as he introduced Ella, who waved to the sloth "And... darling I forgotten your name."

Judy smirked at Nick before introducing herself in a fast voice "Officer Judy Hopps, ZPD, How are ya?"

"I am... doing... just..." said Flash before Judy interrupted by saying 'Fine' before he continued on with his sentence "As well... as I... can... be."

'Well, this should be interesting.' Ella thought as she watched the sluggish scene that was going on in front of her.

She'd have to say that despite it being slow, she had to admit that it was amusing when Judy spoke first before Flash could fully finish his sentence. Judy got down to telling Flash the plate number of the limo that Mr. Otterton which was '29THD03' and it would have gone a little quicker if Nick hadn't decided to tell a joke right before he could punch in the number 3. Ella let out a yawn as she waited for flash to finish running the plate number and nearly nodded off before she was startled awake by Judy excitingly exclaiming where they would find the limo after receiving the plate number. When Judy headed for the door, Ella quickly followed after her with Nick casually following close behind.

"Hurry!" Exclaimed Judy as she, Ella and Nick walked out to the mechanical doors "We gotta beat the rush hour and..."

"Uh... Judy," interrupted Ella "I don't think we have to worry about the rush hour."

Judy was a little confused by what Ella had said before noticing that the parking lot was empty except for her cart and Ella's scooter and another thing that she noticed was that it wasn't day time anymore."

"IT'S NIGHT?!" Judy exclaimed in disbelief.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Ella, Nick and Judy went to Tundratown, where the cold and snow covered practically everything and the darkness of night seemed to make it even more cold and add a hint of creepiness from the lights of the street lights above the road. Judy drove to the Tundratown Limo-Service and was distraught to learn that the place was locked down.

"Closed? Great." she groaned.

"And I will bet you don't have a warrant to get in." Nick said "Oh darn it, it was a bummer."

"Nick? Did you sabotage the case on purpose?" Ella asked "So that you'd see Judy fail and you'd get the carrot pen so she wouldn't turn you in with the tax evasion charges?"

"What? And ruin the chance to return you to your kind?" Nick asked Ella "Do I look like a heartless person to you?"

"You sure act like one." Judy said angrily "What is your problem, does seeing me fail somehow make you feel better about your own sad, miserable life?"

"It does, a hundred percent." Nick said "So... since you're sans warrant. I guess we're done?"

Judy took a deep breath and sighed in defeat before she said "Fine, we are done." she held the carrot shaped pen in her paws as she said "Here's the pen."

Nick grinned. However before he could grab it, Judy tossed it over the fence and it landed in the snow on the other side of the wired fence. Nick frowned and said "First off, you throw like a bunny, and second, you're a very sore loser." He began climbing the fence as he added "See you later Officer Fluff, so sad this is over. I wish I could've helped more."

When he landed on the other side of the fence, he was shocked to find Judy had already beaten him to it by digging under the snow and under the fence. "The thing is," she told the fox "You don't need a warrant if you have probable cause and I'm pretty sure I saw a shifty low life climbing the fence. So you're helping plenty! Come on."

Judy walked off with a smile while Nick frowned angrily. He turned to Ella and she giggled saying "I think she hustled you again. That makes it twice in one day!"

"Don't remind me." Nick growled angrily between his teeth "Just stay here and don't move."

Ella watched the fox fallow the rabbit as they looked for the limo that matched the plate Mr. Otterton was in. She sighed as she turned to sit on her scooter... and bumped into someone, causing her to fall backwards in the snow. She looked up and was shocked to find two polar bears wearing fancy suits looming over her with angry looks on their faces.

"Uh... would you believe I got lost looking for... an ice cream parlor?" Ella asked, trying to come up with a good story for why she was here. However the polar bears were not fooled and one of them grabbed Ella, dragging her into the back of a car and locking her inside. Ella tried to find a way to escape but her fingers couldn't get a good grip on the car lock, probably because of how numb her fingers were because of the snow.

Not long after the bears returned from the limo parking lot, now with Judy and Nick in their grasp and the next thing they knew they were sandwiched into the car with Nick and Judy sitting on Ella's lap and they were being taken to somewhere while Judy whispered to Ella "Are you okay Ella?"

"Fine, but where are we going?" Ella asked

"Back to my worst nightmare." Nick said "We're being taken to Mr. Big's place."

"Mr. Big is apparently the most feared crime boss in Tundratown and he doesn't like Nick." Judy whispered to Ella before returning to Nick saying "What did you do to make Mr. Big so mad at you?"

"I uh, I may have sold him a very expensive wool rug," Nick explained "That was made from the fur of a skunk's... butt."

"Really? How did you make one?" Ella asked

"Don't ask." Nick replied "Trust me kid, you do not want to know."

Uneasily Ella kept quiet as the polar bears took them into a compound and led them inside a fancy, creepy room that looked like something you'd see in a Gangster/Godfather movie. At first both Judy and Ella thought Mr. Big was a polar bear as three entered the room but when the biggest one revealed a little shrew, Judy and Ella were surprised to see that the crime boss was a small rodent.

Nick began to speak but Mr. Big silenced him by showing the fox his rings, which the fox kissed uneasily before he tried to explain that he didn't mean to intrude but the shrew didn't want to hear it. He noticed Ella and asked "Who is this?"

"Our friend Ella, who is helping us find Mr. Otterton." Judy explained before Nick had the chance to cover it up.

Mr. Big looked at Ella and said "Take the human away, I want this talk with me and my old friend Nicky private."

One of the polar bears grabbed Ella once more and led her out of the room. Nick was worried that Mr. Big was going to do something horrible to her but he was also scared for his life because he could already tell Mr. Big had a nasty plan for him. His fears were confirmed when the shrew ordered the pair to be iced. Before their fate was sealed Mr. Big's daughter Fru Fru entered and stopped him when she told him that Judy was the one who save her from being crushed by a giant doughnut prop.

Shortly after that was cleared up, Nick and Judy were led into another room, one that had Fru Fru's wedding taking place and among them was Ella, who was playfully playing with the guests by dancing with them with her hands. Nick felt a little better Ella turned out to be alright and he was even more relieved that he had been spared from being iced.

Later Nick, Ella and Judy had some wedding cake with Mr. Big, even if the cake was a tad too tiny to chew like a regular cake, more like lick and suck on like a gumdrop.

"Otterton is my florist." Mr. Big explained "He's like part of the family. He had something important he wanted to discuss. That's why I sent that car to pick him up. But he never arrived."

"Because he was attacked." Judy said

"No, he attacked." Mr. Big corrected.

"Otterton?" Judy asked

"Otterton," Mr. Big said "He went crazy, ripped up the car, scared my driver half to death and disappeared into the night."

"Maybe he had a bad day or something." Ella said "Maybe he had fleas."

"Fleas do not cause you to attack innocent animals and leave them traumatized." Mr. Big said "Nor do they cause you to lose your mind and vanish into the night."

"But he's a sweet little otter!" Judy exclaimed.

"My child, we may be evolved but deep down, we're still animals." the miniature crime boss said "You want to find Otterton, talk to the driver of the car. His name is Manchas, he lives in the Rainforest District. Only he can tell you more."

They bid the crime boss farewell and the polar bears took them back to the lot, leaving them in the snow before taking off, almost as if they had never been taken in the first place with only the tracks of the bears' car as proof of their time with Mr. Big.

"So... guess we can rule out sleep." Nick said "Because something tells me we're going to be in for a long night."

Ella began to yawn and said "But i'm getting sleepy."

"Don't worry kid, a couple of soda pop sugar in your system and you'll be as light as rain." Nick said before she turned to Judy and said "So Carrots, think we can make a quick stop at a soda vending machine or a convenient store for some refreshers before we head into the rainforest?"

"Sure, but no long distractions like back in the DMV." Judy said with a frown at Nick "I mean it."

"Promise, and this time I mean it." Nick said "I'm parched."

So after a quick trip to a store to buy snakes and drinks, Ella, Nick and Judy headed off, leaving the frosty world of Tundratown behind and heading for the lush and rainy Rainforest District, unaware of the nasty surprise that will await them when they spoke to Manchas about Otterton.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

The trio soon arrived at their destination within the Rainforest District as they began to make their way to the house of Manchas. Ella folded up her scooter and took off her helmet before placing the two items into her backpack while leaving on her padding as she fallowed after Nick and Judy. They walked past a two way sign with one of them saying 'Vine' on the right and on the left the sign said 'Tujunga'. Water from the sprinkler system rained down from the canopy as the trio walked across a suspension bridge that lead towards Manchas' home. Ella looked over the side of the bridge before swallowing when she saw how high up they were before quickly looking ahead towards their destination. When they got there, Judy was the first one to the door, while Ella and Nick hung back for a bit to get the water out of their hair or fur. Nick shook himself dry while Ella gently rung out the water from her braided hair. Judy ran the doorbell of the house before she called out Manchas' name.

"Mr. Manchas? Judy Hopps, ZPD! We just want to know what happened to Emmitt Otterton."

The door to Manchas' house opened slightly, showing a chain lock that kept the door from going any further as the trio waited before a voice spoke "You should be asking, what happened to me!"

Standing behind the door was a black jaguar wearing grey pants and a white tank top. When Ella saw his face, she let out a gasp of shock when she saw the Jaguar's right eye closed with a claw mark scar over it.

"Whoa," Nick said when he saw the scar "A teensy otter did.. that?"

"What happened?" Asked Judy.

"He... was an animal!" exclaimed Manchas fearfully "Down on all fours... he was a savage!"

He soon told the trio about his experience with his encounter with Mr. Otterton. He explained how the otter was running around on all fours, shredding the limo's backseats with his claws and teeth before the otter suddenly attacked him, causing the large cat to swerve the limo off the road before he managed to stop it and got out of the car as fast as he could, but not without receiving the scar from his attacker. The last he saw of the otter was the little creature snarling at him before he ran away and vanished into the night, leaving nothing behind but a terrified jaguar and a nearly ruined limo. As Manchas told his story, Ella felt a little fear going through her at what she heard and couldn't help but feel like she had walked in on a case that might be to big for her to handle, but she was determined to help in anyway she can.

"There was no warning," Said Manchas "He just kept yelling about the Night Howlers. Over and over, the Night Howlers!"

When Manchas spoke about the Night Howlers, Ella couldn't help but feeling that she had heard that name somewhere before. Before she could think about it further, Nick spoke up.

"Oh, so you know about the Night Howlers too?" asked Nick as Ella and Judy turned to look at him in confusion "Good, good, good, because the Night Howlers are exactly what we're here to talk about." He tuned to look at Ella and Judy "Right?"

"Judy and Ella quickly caught on what Nick was saying before they began to speak.

"Yep," said Judy "So, ah, so you just open the door and tell us what you know And we'll tell you what we know, okay?"

Manchas was a little hesitant at first until Ella gently spoke to him.

"Please sir, it's really important that we know what's going on," Ella said "We can help you."

Manchas let out a sigh before answering "Okay."

Manchas closed the door as he began to unlock the lock chain from his door. Ella and Judy smiled at Nick who smirked back at them.

"Clever Fox." Commented Judy

"You really are great with words." added Ella

"Well... I try my best." Nick said with a shrug.

Suddenly there was the sound of a loud thud within Manchas' house with the jaguar letting out a yelp of pain. The trio became concerned as Judy slowly walked forward with Ella and Nick fallowing behind her.

"Mr. Manchas?" Judy asked as she slowly pushed the door open. When she did the trio saw the jaguar thrashing around on the ground as if he were in pain. Ella began to have a sick feeling within her stomach as she felt something was wrong.

"Buddy?" Asked Nick

"Are you... okay?" asked Judy.

Manchas stopped his thrashing as he turned to face the trio as she stood on all four legs. Ella stared wide eyed in fear as the right eye of the jaguar was fully opened, but his eyes held the look of a savage predator that looked at them in hunger.

"Oh no." Voiced Ella.

"Run," urged Judy before shouting "Run!"

The trio quickly headed towards the bridge as they began to run away from the jaguar that was now hunting them.

"What's wrong with him?!" Shouted Nick

"I don't know!" Exclaimed Judy.

Ella felt her heart beating rapidly in her chest as fear coursed through her veins before she and her two animal friends found themselves flying into the air for a moment before landing back down on the bridge. Before they reached the end, Judy told Nick and Ella to jump as they leaped over the ropes and fell towards a tree branch that was down below. Ella felt the wind get knocked out of her when she landed on her stomach when landing on the large tree branch. She didn't have time to catch her breath before she, Nick and Judy had to run again with the jaguar in hot pursuit before they all ducked into a log and crawled through it. Judy told Nick and Ella to keep their heads down as the savage jaguar ripped through the log to try and get to them, while Judy called out for backup on her walkie talkie as the explained the situation of what was going on. Judy ended up losing her walkie talkie when she slipped on a wet branch that they were running on after exciting from the log. Nick grabbed her paw to pull the rabbit back up as they continued the run.

Ella looked back to see that the jaguar was still chasing them before shouting "He's gaining on us!"

"There, head for the Sky Tram!" yelled Judy as she pointed ahead of them.

The trio quickened their pace, but Ella suddenly tripped and landed on her front as the jaguar jumped over her and chased after Judy with the rabbit dodging him. Judy quickly swung herself out of the jaguar's reach by using a lamppost and landed on the platform of the Sky Tram, but slipped and nearly fell over the edge, but Ella quickly saved her by grabbing Judy's paw. Nick was the first one to each the lifts of the Sky Tram and opened it's door before turning to look back at Judy and Ella but quickly realized they weren't there before turning to see them behind the jaguar with Ella helping Judy back onto the platform.

"Go!" shouted Judy.

But Nick hesitated as he stared at Judy and Ella, before turning to look at the jaguar that was stalking towards him. Nick quickly let go of the lift as it moved away and he now stood at the edge of the platform.

"Buddy... one predator to another-" Nick started but the jaguar interrupted him by leaping towards him.

"Nick!" Screamed Ella in fear.

Nick closed his eyes and braced himself for the jaguar to sink it's teeth into him, but the teeth never came as the jaguar was stopped in mid pounce and landed flat on the platform. Nick slowly opened his eyes and looked over to see that Judy had paw cuffed the jaguar to the lamppost. Ella let out a sigh before quickly motioning for Nick to come towards them. Nick slowly walked around the jaguar as he made his way towards the girls.

"Now I can tell you're a little tense," Nick said as he slowly walked around the beast "So I'm just gonna give you a little... personal SPACE!"

The last part he shouted as he tried to quickly run towards the girls, but the jaguar swatted at him, thus making Nick crash into Ella and Judy as they broke through the safety railing of the Sky Tram and fell over the edge. Luckily Judy grabbed a hanging vine and grabbed onto Nick's paw, while Nick grabbed onto Ella's hand. Ella looked down and let out a short yelp of fear when she saw how high up they were and held on tight to Nick's paw.

"Rabbit, whatever you do, don't let go!" shouted Nick s he held a tight death grip on both Judy and Ella.

But Judy had other plans "I'm gonna let go!"

"WHAT?!" Shouted both Nick and Ella in panicked voices.

On the count of three, Judy let go of the vine, thus sending the trio flying through the air before they landed on a tangle of branches and vines. The trio panted as the tried to regain their bearings before they turned towards the platform of the Sky Tram with the jaguar roaring at them in anger and frustration.

"That, was too close." sighed Ella.

"I'll say," Nick said before he turned to look at Judy in surprise "Carrots... you just saved my life."

Judy smiled while shrugging her shoulders "Well... That's what we do in the ZPD."

But the trio soon found themselves falling once again as they bounced off of big jungle leaves before heading towards the hard ground of the street. Ella quickly caught Judy and Nick before holding them close to her as they waited for the impact of hard pavement, but luckily the vines that they fell through caught them before they could hit the ground. Ella let out a sigh as they hung upside down, tied up to each other within the vines before she heard the sound of police sirens coming towards them until several police cars suddenly surrounded them. The first one to step out of one of the police cars was a cape buffalo who had a glare on his face, while he crossed his arms in front of him as he stared down at the trio.

"Well, this should be good." said the buffalo in a harsh voice.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

After the trio were untied by the cops, Judy led the officers back up to the top of the Sky Tram so they could see the savaged Manchas for themselves as Judy told them "I thought it was just a missing otter case, but it's way bigger. I believe that not only Mr. Otterton just disappear, I believe he and this jaguar here, they went savage."

"Savage?" Asked the buffalo, who was also known as Chef Bogo "This isn't the Stone Age Hopps, animals don't go savage."

"That's what I thought to." Judy said before she approached a pair of leaves where she was sure the jaguar would be right behind "Until I saw this."

Judy parted the leaves, but there was no jaguar on the Sky Tram Platform, there weren't even handcuffs on the lamppost anymore. It was like the savage jaguar had vanished without a trace. Judy was stunned by this and Chef Bogo, believing Judy was making the whole thing up, demanded her badge on the spot. Judy tried to get them to listen to Nick and Ella, but the cape buffalo refused.

Nick watched the whole seen in shock. Judy, the only animal on the police force who was a rabbit, was going to be fired just because she was a rabbit... it reminded him of that night long ago when he faced such harsh unfairness... he turned and noticed Ella's eyes were watering before she asked "He's not going to fire her... just because he thinks she's nothing but a bunny... Will he?"

"Not if I have anything to stay about it." Nick said with a frown.

He marched right up to Chief Bogo and told him that Judy would not be handing over her badge "Look," he told the buffalo "You gave her a clown vest, a three wheel joke mobile and two days to solve a case you guys haven't managed to crack in two weeks. Yeah, no wonder she needed help from a fox and a human orphan. Here's the thing chief, you gave her 48 hours so technically we still have ten left to find our Mr. Otterton and that's exactly what we're going to do so if you'll excuse us, we have a very big lead to fallow and a case to crack. Good day."

And with that he motioned the girls to fallow him and they boarded onto a passing gondola, leaving the police stunned by what Nick had done. Judy turned to Nick and said "Thank you."

"Never let them see that they get to you." Nick said

"So... things do get to you?" Judy asked

"Well, not anymore." Nick said.

"Why not?" Ella said "Did it have something to do with someone crushing your dreams?"

"A long time ago... when I was eight, or was it nine? Any who, all I ever wanted was to join the junior ranger scouts..." Nick said, retelling the time long ago when he was a child who lived with his mother and she gave him a uniform so he could join the scouts. But when Nick tried to make friends, the other rangers, who were all prey children, tormented him, abused him and forced him into wearing a muzzle. Nick managed to escape but his hopes and dreams were crushed. He had never been the same since.

Ella looked at Nick and asked "Nick... what ever happened to those bullies?"

"They got kicked out after my mother told them what happened. Possibly spanked silly." Nick said "I was offered a second chance to join... but I didn't want to go through that ever again."

"Will... will they try to muzzle me?" Ella asked fearfully "I mean, I know about what happened to our kinds a hundred years ago but... still..."

Nick wrapped a comforting arm around her and said "Don't worry kid, I don't blame you for that. And I would never let anyone put a muzzle on you. Not ever."

He then felt Judy place her hand on her arm "So you do care... for Ella I mean."

Nick only smiled a little before Ella said "Nick... is it okay if I call you... Daddy?"

Nick's eyes widened at that before he asked "Why? Why would you call me that?"

"Because I love you." Ella said with a soft smile "And... I would be proud to call you my daddy no matter what."

Nick felt his cheeks flush bright red. He couldn't believe it. She wanted him to adopt her? A fox raising a human as his own daughter? He had never heard of anything so... so... weird! He wanted to tell her 'no' but one look at those sparkling eyes and Nick felt himself get hooked.

He also realized something. This whole time Nick realized he was growing very fond of her and it wasn't because of her favorite animal being him, it was something far, far more. He had to admit, the kid wasn't half bad herself. She was everything Nick thought a human wouldn't be; I mean sure he heard bad stuff about humans... but this kid is living proof that humans can be good too.

He shook his head and said "I'll think about it, in the mean time let's just solve this case as quickly as possible." He looked down at the traffic and said "Boy, look at the traffic down there. How about we go to Chunk in Traffic Central." Then he pretended to be a cheesy radio host as he said "Chuck, how are things looking on the Jam Cams?"

Ella giggled at Nick's change of subject but Judy knew why he changed the subject and said "Nick, i'm glad you told me."

However, an idea popped in Nick's head as he said "The Jam Cams."

"Seriously, it's okay." Judy said

Nick shushed her as he leaned over to show the girls some traffic cameras nearby as the gondola as he said "There are traffic cameras everywhere, all over the canopy! Whatever happened to that jaguar-"

"The cameras would've caught it!" Judy exclaimed in glee.

"Bingo!" Nick said

"Oh ho! Pretty sneaky slick!" Judy said happily as she nudged Nick.

"However," Nick said "If you didn't have access to the system before, I doubt Chief Buffalo Butt is going to let you into it now."

"What do we have to do?" Ella asked "Steal a camera or something?"

"Kiddo, we're trying to solve a crime, not commit one." Nick said

"No," Judy said before she perked up and said "But I have a friend in City Hall who might."

"Who? Mayor Lionheart?" Ella asked

"No, Assistant Mayor Bellwether." Judy said

And so as the sun began to rise, the trio continued their way onto getting one step closer to the missing mammals, by heading straight for City Hall, where they were sure they would have all the answers they need.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

The trio rode on Ella's scooter as they made their way to City Hall with Nick standing behind and clinging on to Ella's right leg, while Judy rode inside Ella's backpack with her head sticking out of it. There wasn't a chance they would wait for a taxi so Judy thought it would be quicker if they used Ella's scooter, of course Judy was getting cramped in Ella's backpack and Nick almost got motion sickness twice during those turns, but still they were still able to reach City Hall without any problems. Once they arrived Ella turned off her scooter and Nick and Ella got off it. Ella then lowered her backpack to the ground and unzipped it, allowing Judy to hop out of the backpack. The rabbit officer let out a sigh as she stretched her legs.

"Boy, it was cramped in there." Judy said

"You're lucky you weren't riding with the kid like i was," Nick said as he held his head "I've got a throbbing headache and i'm still recovering from motion sickness."

Ella gave them both a small smile of apology before she slung her backpack back onto her shoulders before she folded her scooter and put away her helmet and pads in her backpack before they entered City Hall and arrived just in time to see Bellwether run into large wooden doors that had been closed at her face and drop blue folders, files and other importent documents all over the ground. Judy and Ella quickly ran over to help her as Judy told Bellwether that they needed her help.

Bellwether took them to her office, which was a cramped boiler room with many boxs filled with importent documents. They were all gathered around the computer at the sheep's desk and the sheep typed access codes to get to the security cameras. Nick's attention soon turned to the sheep's wool on her head and he began to touch her wool with a large smile on his face.

"So fluffy," he whispered.

"Hey!" Judy hissed when she realized what Nick was doing while Ella looked on.

"Sheep never let me get this close." Nick whispered as he continued to play around with the sheep's wool.

"You can't just touch a sheep's wool!" Judy whispered at him angrily.

"It's like cotton candy." Nick replied, causing Ella to giggle at the coment.

"Stop it!" Judy hissed, swatting the fox's paw away, only to accidently hit the wool with her own paw and she tried to fix it before Bellwether looked up at her saying "Where to?"

"Uh, Rainforest District." Judy said, quickly getting her act together "Vine and Tujunga."

Judy shot a glare at Nick, who just simply smiled at her. However he was taken by surprise when Ella started to pet his head before he shooed her away and wagged a finger at the young human.

"Don't start petting a fox's head unless you get permission from him." he whispered in a scolding voice.

"But you were able to touch Bellwether's wool without getting permission from her." Ella whispered as she gave him a playful pout.

Nick blinked at the comment before rolling his eyes in amusement "I'm really rubbing off you, huh?"

Ella smiled before she returned her attention to Bellwether, who showed them her screen saying "There, Traffic cams through out the whole city! Well, this is exciting actually, i mean well, you know I never get to do anything this important."

"But your the assistant mayor of Zootopia." Judy said

"Oh, i'm more of a glorified secretary." Bellwether said with a shrug "I think Mayor Lionheart just wanted the sheep vote. But he did give me this nice mug."

The mug in question was a mug that was supposed to say 'World's greatest dad' but the word 'Dad' had been crossed off and scribbled on it was Assistant Mayor. Ella thought that the sheep deserved something far more then just a mere mug for all her hard work. Before she could talk to the sheep herself Mayor Lionheart's voice rang out from the sheep's phone about her to canceling his afternoon meeting. Bellwether quickly ran out and closed the door behind her. Once she was gone Nick asked a question.

"Do you think when she goes to sleep, she counts herself?" Nick asked

Judy simply shushed him while Ella giggled before they got down to serious buisness and Judy sat in the sheep's chair before she found the footage she was looking for. She played the footage of Manchas chasing the trio until the end where he was still chained to the lamppost where they had left them before a truck came into view. They watched as the timber wolfs captured the savage manchas in a net, tranquilized him and began to drag him towards the truck.

"Bet you a nickle that one of them is going to howl." muttered Nick

As predicted, one of the wolves let out a howl in the camera "And there it is," Nick said "I mean what is with the howling?"

"Night Howlers!" Judy exclaimed as she put the peices of the puzzle together "That's what Manchas was afraid of, wolves! The wolves are the night howlers! If they took Manchas..."

"I bet they took Otterton too!" Nick finished

Ella wasn't so sure that theory was correct. Sure Wolves do howl at night when they feel the need to, but something about the wolves being the Night Howlers just didn't add up to the mystery. She tried to think harder about where she had heard the name Night Howlers before.

'It's on the tip of my tongue' Ella thought before once again they were interupted when Nick managed to locate the truck the wolves were driving in down a hidden road to avoid being caught by the law. Once she saw the road, Ella reconized it.

"I know that road," Ella said, much to Judy and Nick's surprise "I've read about it on the internet back at the orphanage when i was brousing about everything in Zootopia before coming here. That leads to Cliffside Asylem!"

"I've heard about Cliffside." Nick said "Never really went there myself, but i heard that it's a place where they used to put those crazy animals in before they closed it down. Probably because it was belt over the edge of a waterfall and those who tried to escape always end up falling to their death, or so i've been told."

"Then that's where we have to go." Judy said before she hopped off the chair and ran towards the elevator while Ella and Nick fallowed her. Suddenly Ella happened to stop in her tracks when she thought she saw someone strikingly familiar but lost sight of it. Nick noticed and ran over to her.

"Are you okay?" Nick asked

"Yes, i just thought i saw..." Ella started before she said "Oh never mind, i must be seeing things. Come on, we have a missing otter to find."

Ella ran back to the elevator to catch up to Judy before Nick turned his head and spotted a human adult with red hair and glasses talking to Bellwether. Nick frowned for a second before he realized the doors were closing and quickly jumped through it before the doors closed behind him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

The trio soon arrived at Cliffside Asylum, a place where, like Nick said, was built over the edge of a waterfall. The building loomed over the dark, eerie area of the jungle and Ella, Judy and even Nick got goosebumps from the sight of the creepy building. Still they approuched the building and arrived at the guarded gate that was the only entry way into the asylum. They hid behind the guard station where two wolves were on patrol.

Nick motioned for Judy and Ella with crazy hand signs and motions they didn't understand. Well, Ella didn't so she was about to open her mouth and managed to say "What" before Nick covered her mouth with his paw and whispered "In other words, i'm going to sneak past and you fallow behind me. And don't make a sound."

Nick got up and began to tip toe past the guards... however before he could reach the other side safely a wolf picked up his scent. Nick felt chills run up and down his spine as the wolf came closer and closer to him. Just when he thought it was all over Judy let out a howl, and Ella fallowed along with the howling.

The wolf howled back in responce and attracted the attention of the other guard, who ran over and said "Gary, stop it! You're gonna start a howl!"

"I didn't start it!" the other wolf replied before both ended up howling, and pretty soon all the other wolves who were guarding the entrance of the building were howling. With the guards distracted Judy and Ella grabbed Nick and they ran across the stone bridge and to the side of the building.

"Who's idea was that?" Nick asked

"Her's." Ella said, pointing to Judy.

"Clever Bunny." Nick said

"How do we get in now?" Ella asked

"I have an idea," Judy said, noticing a large pipe not to far from where they stood.

Working together they climbed through the pipes and entered the building. The first room they entered in was a wreck, with broken items, piled up junk and Ella had the feeling that any moment now a crazed doctor or insane person would pop out of no where and scare them. Noticing a door they entered it and found state of the art medical equipment from X-Rays, test tubes and more. Why would such brand new things be used in a run down place like this asylum?

As Judy recorded this while turning on her phone light, Nick pointed to the floor, which had clawmarks all over it then they got a big scare when a savage tiger tried to attack them but the glass cage he was in stopped him from harming them. They looked in shock and horror as they walked down a row of savage animals, including Manchas, until they arrived at one glass cage with a pair of broken glasses inside.

Judy shined her light in the cage and there, wearing what used to be his pants, was Mr. Emmitt Otterton, snarling and hiding under the bed to avoid being hit by the light.

"It's him, we found our otter!"

"Phew! And he could use a good shower." Ella commented as she sniffed the air

"Mr. Otterton," Judy told the otter as he stepped out on all fours and sniffed the air curiously "My name is Judy Hopps, your wife sent me to find you, we're going to get you out of here."

Otterton's responce was suddenly attacking the glass door, scaring the trio as they landed on the floor with a thud while Otterton snarled and went back deeper into the cage.

"Or not," Nick said "Guess he's in no rush to get home to the Mrs."

Suddenly they heard someone coming. They ducked into an empty glass cage and hid as, much to their surprise, Mayor Lionheart and a honey badget doctor came out to talk about the situation, unaware that Judy was recording them. Just then, her phone started to ring and the doctor ordered some guards to sweep the area. Soon the area was put on lockdown, even the cage the trio were hiding in locked them inside, trapping them just before they heard some wolves heading for the door.

After trying to open the locked door by force, Nick, Judy and Ella knew that they were busted and Nick cried "Oh great! We're dead! I'm dead, your dead, everybody's dead!"

"Can you swim?" Judy asked, eyeing the hippo toilet the cage had.

Nick wondered why she asked that question before she hopped into the toilet and Ella pulled the lever and Nick hopped in to join Judy but when Ella tried to join them she couldn't fit through the hole and ended up being spotted by the wolves, who aimed their tranquilizer darts at her as she tried to hide in the toilet bowl, but to no avail.

Outside Judy and Nick slipped down the pipes and came out the other side, falling down a waterfall and landing with a splash in the deep waters below. Nick was the first to resurface and he looked around shouting "Carrots? Ella?! JUDY!"

Judy popped her head out of the waters and held up her phone, which she put in a plastic bag to keep it from getting wet "We gotta tell Bogo!"

Nick was glad Judy was safe but then realized Ella wasn't with them and asked "Where's Ella?!"

"Oh no, she must still be in there!" Judy exclaimed in shock, looking back up at the building they had just escaped from.

"We have to get her out now!" Nick cried in worry "If anything happens to that kid, i'm never going to forgive myself!"

"Don't worry, we'll get her out of there with help from the other officers so we can bust that lion and put him behind bars!" Judy said as they swam back to shore.

Nick thought about Ella getting hurt and his fear turned into anger as he snarled "If that oversized cat touches one hair on her head, he's going to wish he had already been arrested by the time I'm done with him!"

* * *

Back in the asylum Ella was still in the cage but now the alarm was off and she was angrily glaring at Mayor Lionheart, who had returned to talk to the 'only' intruder they found. The wolves had taken her backpack and held it outside the cage as Mayor Lionheart said "Don't take any of this personal my dear, but i can't have you going around telling everyone about what you've seen. It's only a temporary stay, just long enough until we can figure out what is going on."

Ella only crossed her arms and turned her back on the lion.

"Don't give me that," the lion said "Don't think of this as a prison, pretend that this is a fancy hotel that you can't leave ever... no, that didn't come out right."

"I have friends out there who are missing me, and they will come and find me!" Ella snapped angrily "And when they do, you are going to be so sorry!"

"Oh great, this is what i need." Mayor Lionheart sighed "Make sure she dosn't leave and make sure nobody else gets in here. It's bad enough we're hiding savages from the public."

The wolves nodded and made their leave along with the mayor. Ella's anger became fear and worry as she huddled against the wall of the glass prison she was forced to stay in. The badger doctor felt sorry for the human and dug through her backpack before giving her two items from the bag, a candy bar and a small portable radio.

"I am so sorry for all this." She told the human "I wish i could help but... well, take these."

She slipped her arm through the hole in the glass cage and gently placed the candy bar and radio down on the floor. Ella felt her eyes fill up with tears as the badger walked away and closed the door behind her. Ella crawled over to the candy bar and Radio as she turned on the radio and some soothing ballet music began to play, but it didn't comfort Ella at all. Still she let the ballet music play and while she was crying the music began to have a strange, soothing effect on the savages, causing them to stop snarling and sway to the music in a hypnotic trance. Ella looked up and realized that the savages weren't acting savage anymore and wondered why.

She then realized that the music was still on and remembered a saying from back at the orphanage 'music sooths the savage beast' but could it be true? Could that old human saying be right? And speaking of humans, she wondered what the others had been doing while she was gone.

* * *

Ella didn't know it then but the whole time she had been gone, Isabella and Jason had been working their fingers to the bone baking cookies for the animals in Zootopia with Jefferson working them long and hard. To say that their raise in popularity went to the man's head because Jason and Isabella used their families home made cookies to help make money for themselves. But they'd never thought they'd end up working for such a jerk of an adult for something they love more then anything.

Right now they had just sold their last batch of cookies when Jefferson came to them saying "Kids, guess what? We have districts from all over wanting your blueberry cookies more then anyone else! We have to get started and-"

"But we're tired," Isabella whined "We need a break."

"And besides, we ran out of blueberries." Jason said as he motioned to an empty bag that used to have blueberries.

"You happen to be in luck, I just happen to have some more blueberries right here." Jefferson said as he held up another bag filled with blueberries "And these cookies have to be delivered to all the districts in the city, even in Bunny Burrows."

Jason looked inside the bag and noticed something odd about the blueberries the man had "Uh, Mr. Jefferson, where did you get those blueberries?"

"From a fruit store." Jefferson said "I almost lost them when i got robbed by a weasel but i managed to get these berries back after putting up quite a fight."

"But they don't look like blueberries to me." Jason said as he looked at the 'berries' uneasily.

"Don't be silly, they must be Zootopia grown blueberries." Jefferson said "Now get back to work, Then you can relax."

Jason and Isabella groaned but did as they were told. As they got busy Jason said "I wish Ella was here."

"Ella, that little runaway?" Isabella asked "She's the reason why we're in this in the first place. Wherever she is, i hope she stays there."

Jason frowned and said "Ella is our friend, and i can tell you miss her like i do, so i'm thinking that while Mr. Jefferson is least expecting, we'll escape and find Ella ourselves."

Little did they know that the blueberries weren't really blueberries and that by tomorrow afternoon those treats would play a key role in the mystery that could change the lives of everyone forever, for better or worse.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

After getting out of the water and shaking themselves dry, Nick and Judy made their way down a path to the road while Judy called the ZPD. After a while, Chef Bogo and the rest of the ZPD police force arrive down the road and both Nick and Judy climbed into one of the cars before the driver fallowed the other police cars to Cliffside Asylum. Nick had his arms crossed over his chest as he tapped a finger against his left arm impatiantly while Judy sat behind him as she looked up at the fox in worry.

"Nick," Judy said as she gently placed a hand on Nick's right shoulder "We're going to get Ella back, i promise."

"I swear Judy, if something happens to Ella..." Nick trailed off as he grined his teeth in fustration.

Judy gently squeezed Nick's shoulder before turning her head forward and saw Cliffside Asylum coming up. Nick also saw their destination coming up as well and his tail began to twitch in anticipation.

'Hang on Ella,' Nick thought to himself 'I'll get you out of there soon'

The ZPD officers soon arrived at Cliffside Asylum and managed to arrest the wolf guards who had surround the building, Mayor Lionheart was also arrested along with the honey badger doctor and as they were being led out of the building by Judy and Chef Bogo, Nick stopped them and stood in front of the mayor with a glare imprinted on his face.

"Alright you overgrown house cat, where is she?" Nick demanded "What did you do to her?"

"I-I don't know who you mean." Stammered Lionheart as he tried to remain calm.

"Oh, i think you do." Nick said angrily "She's a human girl, eleven years old, yay high, long brown hair in a braid pony tail, bright blue eyes, and she was also carrying a purple backpack. Now you tell me what you did to her or I will not be a happy camper!"

Before Lionheart could deny any knowledge of seeing a human girl that fit the fox's description the honey badger spoke up saying "The girl is still upstairs on the fourth floor where the animals that had turned savage are."

Leaving the mayor in the hands of Chef Bogo, Judy and Nick took the honey badger with them back into the building and rode the elevator up to the fourth floor where Ella and the other savage animals were still being held. Once they arrived on the fourth floor Judy's ears stood on end and began to twitch around for a moment.

"What's wrong Carrots?" Nick asked when he noticed that her ears were twitching.

"I think i hear music coming from the room." Judy said as she turned to look at Nick in surprise.

"Music?" Nick echoed in confusion.

"It must be from the radio I gave the girl." the honey badger said.

Nick looked at the badger in surprise before they continued to run down the hall to where the room where the sound of the music was coming from, growing louder and louder as they got closer. When they reached the door they opened it and the soothing music they heard almost relaxed Nick himself before he snapped out of it and ran into the room to see a very surprising sight. The savage animals were looking very relaxed and in a hypnotic state as they continued to listen to the music.

"This is fascinating." said the honey badger as she stared at this sight in amazement.

Judy and Nick weren't interested in the strange sight as they ran to the glass cage that had Ella inside. Judy took out her phone and shined a light inside the cage, shining a light on Ella, who was curled up against a wall with the radio beside her.

"Ella!" Nick called.

Upon hearing her name, Ella glanced up and saw Nick and Judy standing before her in front of the glass cage. She smiled as wide as she could before she ran to the glass window and sat down on her knees.

"Nick! Judy! I knew you'd come!" Ella exclaimed happily

"Are you alright kiddo?" Nick asked in a worried voice "They didn't hurt you did they?"

"I'm a little scared, but i'm alright." Ella said "I knew you would come back."

"Hey, i'm responsable for you remember?" Nick joked with a smile on his face.

Judy looked at the keypad lock and then back at the badger saying "How do we get her out?"

"Allow me." the honey badger said. She began typing access codes on the keypad before the lock unlocked and the doors slid open. Once the door opened, Nick ran inside and wrapped his arms around Ella in a tight hug with Ella returning the hug as tears of joy and relief ran down her face. Judy smiled at the two and walked into the room as well before heading towards the radio and turned it off. Once she did the savage animals snapped out of their trance and began to act agressive again, which startled the group for a moment before Nick let go of Ella and began to check all over for any scratches on her body. When he couldn't find one, he sighed in relief, glad his young friend wasn't hurt.

Once they were out of the cage, they turned to face the honey badger, who hung her head down in shame.

"I'm sorry about the way we treated you." the honey badger said sadly

Ella smiled before kneeling down to her eye level saying "It's okay, at least you helped Nick and Judy find me."

"That's right," Judy said "Thank you miss..."

"Dr. Madge Honey Badger." The doctor replied "And i am quite impressed that your friend managed to calm these animals down."

"Well, as the old saying in my hometown goes 'music sooths the savage beast'." Ella said with a smile.

"Anyway, thank you again Dr. Madge." Judy said "Your parole in prison will be shortened after what you did for us."

"Yeah, thank you." Nick said

"You're welcome." Dr. Madge said.

After they made their way back down to the first floor, Judy told Chef Bogo about where the savage animals were and informed him on how a radio playing soothing music calms them right down. The chef handed a radio over to his men and told them to go to the fourth floor to detain the savage animals by lulling them into a hypnotic trance through soothing music so that they would be easier to handle. One of the officers, a tiger, gave Ella back her backpack before rejoining the others.

Nick led Ella outside and hopped into the back of a police car while Ella fallowed right behind him. Once Ella closed the door behind her and sat down on the backseat she let out a yawn and her eyes began to grow heavy.

"Ella, you okay?" Nick asked

"Yeah," Ella replied in a tired voice "I'm just sleepy... that was some adventure we had, right?"

Nick smiled as he gently placed his hand on her shoulder and said "I know what you need, a nice long nap with me in my bed back at the apartment."

Ella nodded and let out another yawn, just as Judy opened the door and joined the pair. "How are you feeling Ella?" Judy asked in concern.

"Sleepy." Ella said with a yawn.

"I'm going to take her back to my apartments for the night," Nick said "Mind if you or someone around here could drive us there?"

"I'll go ask Bogo." Judy said

Soon Judy, who agreed to escort Nick and Ella back home, Nick and Ella were being driven back to the apartments by Officer McHorn and once they arrived they hopped onto the elevator and arrived at Nick's door, where he opened it and Ella went inside first, while he stayed behind to talk to Judy.

"Thanks again Carrots." Nick said

"You're welcome." Judy said "But i should also thank you for helping me, you and Ella were a big help on this case."

"Hey, i promised i'd help... even thought i acted like a jerk the whole time." Nick said with a shrug

"No more then i was." Judy said as she scratched the back of her head uneasily "So... tomorrow morning there's going to be a press confrence to talk about the case and i was wondering if you and Ella could come to the ZPD station to give me some support. And in return i'll help you find Ella's human companions."

"Alright, we'll come and be your support." Nick said before he let out a yawn and said "Now if you don't mind, i'm going to head stright to bed."

"Good night Nick." Judy said before she walked off.

"Night Carrots." Nick replied as he watched her go into the elevator before it closed.

Nick removed his clothes, out on his pajamas and made his way to the bedroom, where Ella had already fallen asleep with her shoes off her feet and on the floor. Looking at Ella's sleepy face, Nick couldn't help but smile before he climbed into bed and made sure both he and her were covered in the sheets and cuddled close to then thought about what Wlla said about him adopting her and smiled.

'It'll be a little weird to have a human for my daughter.' Nick thought before he felt her curl up against his side and he wrapped an arm around the young girl 'But after that crazy adventure with Carrots, weird is totally overrated.'

Nick soon closed his eyes and drifted to sleep, but not before whispering to the little girl before he was fully taken to dreamland.

"Good night Kiddo."

* * *

Back at the old bakery, while Jefferson was still asleep, Jason and Isabella quietly snuck out the back door as they made their escape. Isabella was wearing a dark blue shirt and jeans while Jason wore a black hoodie and dark brown pants. They quietly shut the back door behind them before they began to make their way down the street in hopes of finding Ella


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

After a blissful night of sweet dreams, Ella awoke to the sound of Nick's digital alarm clock and rubbed her eyes as she yawned and said "Morning Nick." She looked around and realized Nick wasn't in the bedroom. She walked over into the kitchen where Nick handed her a paper plate with the pizza they ordered on the day they first met each other and said "Up and at'um kid, we're having pizza for breakfast."

"Wow, we never get pizza for breakfast back at the orphanage." Ella said as she held the plate in her hands before taking a bite of the pizza "What's next?"

"Easy, we're heading over to the ZPD to support Officer Hopps with a press confrence." Nick said "Better eat up quick kid, we're leaving in a couple of minutes... then i'll go see about some adoption papers for a certin someone."

Ella gasped at this and said "Nick... your... your..."

"Kid, i thought about what you said and... I guess it's about time I got something i should have gotten a long time ago... a kid to call my own." Nick said with a smile.

Ella was so happy she ran over and embraced Nick in a tight hug, one the fox returned with a smile. Nick then let go of her and said "Now come on, eat already or we'll be late."

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the bakery, the absence of the rest of the kids left Jefferson working alone with some animals picking up the cookies he had the kids bake as he sold the last of the few boxes he had to seperate animals all over Zootopia as they formed a line and he handed out the boxes to all kinds of animals from elephants to mice.

When the last of his customers left, Jefferson sighed before he tallied the total of boxes sent to various places in the city on his clipboard and said to himself "Hmmm... let's see, eight dozen cookies sold in Sahara Quare, one dozen for the Little Rodentia, five dozen in the Rainforest District and... 3 dozen for Tundratown. What a day."

"Excuse me!"

Jefferson looked down from the counter and spied a little rabbit in farm clothes looking up at him with some money in his paw saying "I need about two boxes of your finest cookies."

"Your in luck," Jefferson said as he gave the rabbit two boxes filled with the cookies "I have three left, I'll just give you two and keep the last one for myself."

After paying for the box the bunny said "Hey, did you hear the news? My daughter bust the mayor for kidnapping innocent animals and there's going to be a press confrence in the ZPD Police Station any moment now. My baby's a hero! I am just so proud of her i could just kiss her!"

"Why don't you go there yourself?" Jefferson asked

"Sorry, I can't go, it's our son Robert's birthday." The farmer bunny said "And i have to catch the next train or i'll be late."

"Tell you what, i'll go in your place and tell her that her daddy is proud of her." Jefferson said with a smile as he held up the last box of cookies he had and said "I'll even give her some of these cookies as a token of our gratidute."

"Great idea!" the bunny said "Tell Judy her Daddy Stu's mighty proud of her!"

The bunny then hopped away with a skip in his step while Jefferson got into the car he rented and drove off.

* * *

At the police station, Judy was abuzz with excitment and worry. There were reporters from all over Zootopia coming to report her and she couldn't sit still or think stright. Nick told her that everything would be fine and gave her advice on what to do by the time the new mayor, Bellwether, called her up. Ella stood by Nick with a large smile on her face because the fox told her she would be adopted.

Then she saw Jefferson enter the building and walked over to him saying "Mr. Jefferson!"

"Ella, great, i manage to find you but i lost the others." Jefferson said as he put down the box of cookies saying "This is going to kill me, well, at least you can make yourself useful and give some of these cookies to the reporters."

"Guess what? I'm going to be adopted by my favorite animal!" Ella exclaimed happily "It's amazing! It's incredible! It's-"

"It's totally stupid!" Jefferson exclaimed "Last I checked, animals don't want to adopt humans, especially brats who wander off when they are not suppose to. Animals raise animals, humans raise humans, there has never been an exception and never will be. From Day one i've hated being here and I swear that by the time our time here is up, i'm going to be glad to stay at home and stay far, far away from this place."

"But Mr. Jefferson-"

"Don't 'But Jefferson' me kid," the man said angrily "Or we just may have to go home early."

Nick, who had overheard this, marched up to Jefferson saying "What is your problem? I pratically took care of her, saved her from being harmed once or twice, and all you can say about it is threatening her to send her back home and handing out cookies? What kind of person are you?" he took a sniff and groaned "Ugh, what kind of cookies are they anyway?"

Jefferson handed over a cookie from the box and said "Blueberries."

Nick sniffed it and said "Ugh, dude, you must be nose blind because these do not smell like blueberry cookies, they smell like something you'd find in a chemistry set! I bet they taste even worse."

"There is nothing wrong with these cookies," Jefferson said "They are completely harmless! I'll prove it."

He walked over to a pig and gave him a cookie, which the pig was more then happy to eat. Jefferson turned back to Nick and Ella saying "See? Harmless."

Nick looked past the man and noticed that the pig was gagging on the cookie. He shook his head and said "You better hope you have a good law suit and a good lawer, cause I think you are in big trouble."

Suddenly the pig dropped to all fours and started to snarl with a crazed look in his eyes. Nick and Ella's eyes widened as the pig looked at them dangerously, the very same look Mr. Manchas had when he turned savage and the same look Mr. Otterton and the other savage animals had. That could only mean one thing; the pig had turned savage!

Suddenly Jason and Isabella ran into the building with frightened looks all over their faces as they screamed "RUN!"

Judy, Bellwether, Bogo, the reporters and the police officers were shocked by this sudden surprise invasion but just before they could respond a savage band of animals, camals, elephants, sheep, a rabbits and even rodents broke down the doors and everyone screamed before Judy yelled "RUN!"

Everyone ran as the savage prey animals stormed into the building and tore everything appart, the savage pig even knocked over the microphones Judy had been using and caused so much noise that the savage prey animals went running back out. Nick grabbed Ella and ran to the other side of the building while Ella cried "Wait, what about Judy!?"

"She's a cop, she can handle anything." Nick said but when he opened the front door, he got a nasty surprise with what he found on the other side, Mr. Manchas! And from the broken metal collar around his next he must've escaped when nobody was looking during the chaos and he wasn't alone, Mr. Otterton had escaped as well and neither looked very happy to see the fox or the human.

"Back away," Nick whispered "Real slow like... don't make eye contact."

Manchas snarled as he lept into the air and Nick and Ella ran for their lives before Ella tripped and scrapped her knee, leaving her crying out in pain. Nick tried to help but Manchas knocked him into the wall, knocking the fox out cold.

"Nick!" Ella cried before she stood face to face with the savage Manchas, who snarled at her along with Mr. Otterton. Ella was scared out of her wits and waited for the deadly blow... but instead of biting her, the jaguar sniffed her curiously and tilted his head, Otterton did the same thing and he dug his head through Ella's backpack before pulling out the radio, the same radio she held back at the asylum.

Ella began to wonder if the music might have not only calmed them down, but restored some of their memories. Ella tested this by showing Mr. Otterton his wallet, one Judy had put in her backpack for evidence and forgot to take out. Once Mr. Otterton saw his family he let out a whimper and gently placed a finger on his family photo with affection.

"You remember." Ella breathed in wonderment.

Suddenly Cheif Bogo arrived along with Judy and the bunny yelled "Ella!"

Looking up at the cape buffalo and the bunny, Manchas snarled and grabbed Ella, dragging her across the floor as Bogo held up a tranquilizer gun and was about to fire when Judy yelled "No! You might hit Ella!"

But the buffalo fired anyway, missing the jaguar as he ducked and the dart bounced off the walls before the buffalo and the rabbit dove for cover and the dart struck Jefferson in the butt, sending him to dreamland with a dazed look on his face. Judy tried to catch up but Otterton startled her and knocked her into Nick. Ella tried to grab the door knob but in the process her bracelet got caught on the door knob and with one hard yank the bracelet slipped off and hung on the knob as Manchas and Otterton ran off with their prisoner as Ella yelled "Nick! Judy! Help me!"

Judy sat up and shook her head before she noticed Nick and patted his face "Nick, Nick wake up!"

Nick moaned as he opened his eyes and asked "What happened?"

"I have no idea myself." Judy said.

Nick rubbed his head as the rabbit helped him up and he rubbed his aching head before he realized something "Ella! Where's Ella?!"

"Gone... Manchas and Otterton took her away." Judy said.

Nick and Judy ran to the door but there was no trace of Ella, Manchas or Otterton. The only clue they had was Ella's bracelet, which was still hung on the door knob as Nick took hold of it and felt his heart break in sadness... and then he became angry before he walked up to Cheif Bogo and told him what had happened and who was to blame.

Jefferson was still in a dazed trance before the cape buffalo slapped the cuffs on him and said "You are in serious trouble."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

In the interrogation room Jefferson was being questioned about what had just happened while Nick and Judy were talking to Jason and Isabella in the lobby. Judy was asking the kids a few questions, while Nick quietly stood beside her as he listened to what they were talking about, all the while he gently held Ella's bracelet in his paw.

"Can you tell us where you two had ran away from?" Judy asked as she held a notepad and her carrot pen as she prepared to write down all the answers that the kids gave her.

"We were living in an old bakery complex since the hotel that we were supposed to be living in for the first two weeks gave away out rooms to someone else by accident." Jason replied as he began to answer Judy's questions "Everything was fine for a while, but then Mr. Jefferson started getting a big head."

"I could tell that guy already has a big head just by looking at him." Nick said as he tucked his paws into his pockets.

"Yeah, well, his head got even bigger when he decided to use us to make blueberry cookies." Isabella said, stepping in with an angry look on her face "He was making us work to the bone, while not giving us any breaks except when we go to bed. The fame of being one of the first humans living in Zootopia had really gone to his head."

When Isabella told Judy how Mr. Jefferson had been making the kids work down to the bone in making blueberry cookies, Nick began to dislike the human adult more and more to the point where he wanted to strangle him. He was just glad that he had met Ella sooner before she had to undergo something like that.

"Did you start using those strange berries when you first got here to Zootopia?" Judy asked.

"No," Jason said with a shake of his head "We used regular blueberries when we first got here to Zootopia, but we ran out so Mr. Jefferson went out to get more blueberries. But when he did he came back with those weird looking berries after he had almost been robbed by a weasel."

"A weasel?" echoed Judy as she looked up at Jason in surprise.

"Yeah," Jason replied "It had happened when he went out yesterday, while he left me and Isabella to make the cookies with orders going out to all of the districts in Zootopia."

Judy and Nick looked at each other in worry before Judy looked back at the two kids.

"What were the districts that those cookies were going out to?" Judy asked

"Jason frowned thoughtfully before answering "Um... Tundratown, Sahara Square, Little Rodentia, The Rainforest District and Bunny Burrow."

When Jason mentioned Bunny Burrow, Judy felt her heart stop for a quick second before she quickly raced to the interrogation room. The kids were confused for a second while Nick also became worried as he placed Ella's bracelet into his left pocket before he turned to look at the two kids.

"Listen, you two stay here in the lobby and don't wander off." Nick said with a stern look upon his face.

"But what about Ella?" Jason asked in a worried voice.

"Look, we'll find her, somehow," Nick replied as he raised his paws up to reassure the two kids in front of him "But until then, stay here and we'll see to it that you two are taken back to your families."

With that said, Nick ran after Judy to the interrogation room. When he got there he opened the door to see Judy on the table glaring at Mr. Jefferson with Chief Bogo watching from the side as he had his arms crossed in front of him as he watched the scene play out in front of him.

"How many cookies have you sold to my hometown?!" demanded Judy angrily.

"N-None so far!" stuttered Jefferson in fear when he saw how fierce the rabbit was glaring at him. "But I did sell a batch of cookies to a rabbit that came into the bakery before I came here."

"Who?" Judy asked

"Um... I think h-his name was Stu?" Jefferson answered "And he was dressed in farm clothes."

When he said the name and the appearance of the rabbit that bought the box of poisoned cookies, fear came over Judy's face and before anyone could move, Judy hopped off the table and ran out the door past Nick. Nick quickly ran after Judy and quickly caught her before she could dash out of the front doors of the ZPD. Judy began to kick around wildly as she tried to get out of Nick's hold.

"Let me go, Nick!" yelled Judy angrily.

"Judy, calm down!" Nick exclaimed as he held Judy tightly within his arms "What's gotten into you?"

"Let me go, I have to get back to my family before anything happens to them!" screamed Judy as tears began to form in the corner of her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked as Judy's struggles began to weaken before she fell limp within his arms.

"M-my dad, Stu, was the one that bought those cookies," Judy answered as tears started to run down her face "If he, my mother or any of my brothers and sisters eat those cookies... they'll... they'll..."

Judy couldn't finish her sentence as she turned around in Nick's arms and cried into his shirt. Nick was a little surprised by this sudden action for a moment before he gently hugged Judy, while also petting her head to calm her down. After a moment, Nick gently pushed Judy away before looking at her.

"Judy listen, you go back home and check on your family." Nick said firmly as he held Judy by the shoulders "I need to stay here and look for Ella."

"B-But you have no idea where she is," Judy said as she sniffled a bit "And we don't know if she's..."

"Ella's alive," Nick cut in with a determined look on his face "The way that you described how Manchas and Mr. Otterton had taken her makes me think that they aren't going to do anything to her, but I also have this feeling that she's alright. Besides, I've lived in Zootopia since I was a kid and I know all the streets in this city like the back of my hand even before I became a con artist. Wherever Ella is I'll still find her, but i'm going to need a bit of help from Finnick. Just trust me on this, alright?"

Judy stared at Nick in shock at his words before she wiped the tears away from her eyes and nodded her head as determination appeared on her face. Nick smiled before pulling back and quickly rushed towards the doors of the ZPD, while shouting out to Judy.

"I'll meet you back here when I find Ella!" he called before he opened the door and rushed outside.

* * *

Meanwhile Ella didn't know how long and how far Manchas had dragged her away from the ZPD with Mr. Otterton following close behind them, but they soon came to a stop at an old building within the Downtown district of Zootopia. Manchas gently dragged Ella into the building before letting go of her when they were inside. Ella sat very still as she watched in fear as Manchas stood in front of her as he began to sniff her, along with Mr. Otterton as he circled around her for a moment. Ella was a little surprised when Mr. Otterton suddenly climbed into her lap and laid there looking a little exhausted. Ella hesitated for a moment before she gently started to stroke Mr. Otterton's furry back, while the otter only laid in her lap looking content to not move. Ella smiled as she began to calm down again only to be taken by surprise again when Manchas nuzzled his head against her face for a second before walking around behind her and laid down on the floor. Ella looked at Manchas hesitantly for a second before lying against his back and received only a purr from the jaguar. Ella soon relaxed and looked up at the ceiling above her with two predators cuddling her.

"I can't wait to tell everyone about this." Ella said to herself.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

Ever since the horrible event of the press conference being trampled by savage animals, every single animal, predator and prey, were put under lock down in their own homes to prevent any more savage animals from appearing in the city. Fear grew all over as the entire ZPD police force spread out all over the city, collecting the poisonous cookies before anyone else could eat them and turn savage.

Judy knew that her family was in danger of these cookies and knew that she had to return to her family farm immediately or her loved ones would become savage rabbits. Her meter maid car wouldn't be fast enough and waiting for the train would take forever, luckily Chief Bogo gave her a real police car to drive around in. Judy knew that with her new mode of transportation she would surely reach her family's carrot farm in no time, hopefully she would reach the farm before anyone of her family members become savage.

Nick, meanwhile, managed to find his friend Finnick and got him to help look for Ella. Normally the short fox would never search a savage infested city with savages popping up almost everywhere but Nick had a powerful reason to head straight into such danger; he had to find and rescue Ella before any harm could come to her. Now that was something that Finnick admired because if this little girl had given his friend a powerful bond so great he'd be willing to face great danger for her safety he knew Nick had finally found someone worth living for... a child of his own.

And for once, Nick didn't tease him about being short or anything baby related. Guess that was what having a kid of your own can do to you, at least that what Finnick thought.

As they drove down the abandoned streets of the Downtown District Finnick and Nick looked around for something, anything that would give them a clue to Ella's whereabouts. As they searched Nick kept thinking about Ella as memories flashed by in his mind. He began to think about what they should do next once Ella had been recovered. Maybe she should be sent back to his apartment, but what if someone there ate a poisoned cookie and went savage? Perhaps it would be better if Ella was sent back to her human city, at least she'd be safe there... but what if he never saw her again?

Suddenly Finnick slammed on the breaks, causing Nick to nearly hit the car's airbags and the fox yelped in shock before he turned to the fennec fox saying "What was that for?!"

Finnick pointed to what was ahead and Nick's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw a pair of savage elephants... charging straight towards them! Both foxes screamed as Finnick turned the van around and drove for their lives as the elephants kept charging, flattening everything in their path.

"I told you those humans would bring nothing but trouble, but did you listen? No! Now look at us, we're about to become a pair of fox pancakes!" Finnick cried.

"Don't blame Ella for this!" Nick exclaimed angrily "Blame that Jefferson guy, it was his fault this is happening!"

"I don't care whose fault it is!" Finnick shouted angrily "We are still going to die and probably become elephant toe jam before we even-"

"LOOK OUT!" Nick shouted as a savage panda came out of no where and roared.

Finnick screamed as he swerved his van into a sharp turn before losing control and the van began to spiral out of control as the foxes screamed and saw their lives flash before their eyes before the van took one more turn and crashed straight through a wall and smashed some electronic figures before crashing into some tables and came to a halt inside a building. Nick and Finnick jumped out, kissing the ground for their lucky escape and survival before the red fox looked up and saw pizza themed decorations and the broken animations of what used to be cats playing instruments.

"I think we smashed right though Callie Cat's Pizzeria." Nick said "And right into the kiddie section from the looks of it."

"But grateful no one's here to give us a bill for the damages." Finnick said "Now help me get my van unstuck before those beasts come back and try to make us toppings on their own pizza."

KABOOM!

The engine of the van suddenly exploded and smoke bellowed out as the foxes coughed and ran out of the building before the sprinkler system went off and water began to soak everything everywhere while Finnick looked at his van and cried "My van! My house! My comic books!" He groaned as he pulled his ears and said "That Jefferson guy better hope he has a death wish because by the time I get my paws on him-"

"Never mind that, we have to continue finding Ella!" Nick said

"Forget that brat, she's probably already eaten by now!" Finnick exclaimed in anger.

At that Nick became so angry he grabbed the short fox, pinned him against a wall and snarled "Ella is not a brat! And she is not dead, I know she's alive and I know she's still out there but if you don't want to help me find her then you can just... just... stay here and get eaten for all I care!"

"Nick, get a grip on yourself! She's just a kid!" Finnick exclaimed in fright at his partner's sudden angry outburst "Like every other kid in this dump!"

"Ella is not like that." Nick said "She accepted me, she accepted you, she believed in Judy and gave her a fair chance of proving she was a real cop far better then anyone else. I used to think that only prey animals were the biggest jerks in my life ever since I was a kid, but it turns out both prey and predator are nothing but jerks, and you are the biggest jerk I've ever had the displeasure of even knowing in my whole life! So if you care more about that dumb van of yours more then a friend's life or the life of anyone else he cares about, then you can forget our partnership, we are so over! You're on your own!"

With that Nick dropped Finnick and stormed off. Finnick was left speechless by what had just happened. He had never ever seen Nick behave so... so... angry before. Usually Nick was calm and collected, hardly any showing any sign of raw emotions like the short fox had done with his short-tempered and loud attitude. But that... that was unbelievable. Suddenly he felt bad that he ever said those words, and for the first time in his life, he felt terrible about how he had behaved.

If Nick wanted Ella back, then he was going to get her back.

Finnick packed his elephant toddler costume and walked down a path to find Ella himself. He didn't get to long when he crossed paths with a female otter wearing a purple dress and a matching coat walk down the road shouting "EMMITT! Emmitt, where are you?!"

"What are you doing lady?!" Finnick asked, startling the otter as she turned to look at the fox "Do you want one of those savages to come and eat you alive?"

"Excuse me, but I was looking for my husband." The otter said "He, Emmitt Otterton, went savage but then he escaped and I'm trying to find him because his footprints lead to right here."

"I'm trying to find my friend's kid before anyone of those savages eats her." Finnick said "And hopefully I won't get eaten either."

"What is that?" Mrs. Otterton said as she pointed to the costume Finnick held in his hands.

Finnick pointed to it and said "It's my toddler disguise, I use it to trick others into thinking i'm a little kid. But never mind that, I have to find her before-" he suddenly let out a gasp as he started to shake and his knees began to knock.

"What's wrong?" Mrs. Otterton asked

Stammering nonsense, Finnick pointed to what was behind the otter. Mrs. Otterton turned and gasped in shock, there, emerging from a building, was Manchas, and on top his head was Mr. Otterton, sniffing the air and looking at them with crazed yet curious looks in their eyes.

"When I count to three, we run like crazy." Finnick whispered to Mrs. Otterton "One.. two..."

"Finnick!"

Finnick and Mrs. Otterton were shocked to find Ella emerging from behind the jaguar before the fox cried "Kid, what are you doing?! Those are savages!"

"They were," Ella said before she picked up Mr. Otterton and held him like a baby while the otter snuggled close to her chest, making Finnick and Mrs. Otterton's jaws drop in shock "But I think I tamed them."

"Tamed them? How?!" Finnick asked

"With soothing music," Ella said "Somehow soothing music not only calms savage animals down, it also restores some of their memories. Manchas recognized me from when me, Nick and Judy were questioning him and Mr. Otterton remembers his family."

To prove her point, she gently placed Mr. Otterton down and approached his wife on all fours. At first Mrs. Otterton was worried that her husband was going to attack, but instead he sniffed her and nuzzled his face against her own and kissed her. It was slobbery yes, but it was proof enough for the otter that her husband still remembered her.

"Oh Emmitt!" Mrs. Otterton cried as she embraced her husband in a hug, laughing happily as tears of joy fell down her face.

Finnick was still in shock before he turned to Ella saying "Okay, am I missing something here, because I am totally wigging out over here!"

"Somehow music sooths them and their memories just... well, click." Ella said as she wrapped an arm around Manchas' neck "I don't have any idea why but... it's just how it is."

"Okay... freaky things aside, we have to get you back to Nick right now." Finnick said "We just broke down a pizza place trying to find you! Not on purpose of course."

Suddenly Mr. Otterton and Manchas heard something, snarled and took off, leaving the trio confused as Mrs. Otterton shouted "Wait! Honey, come back! Where are you going?!"

Suddenly they heard a gunshot and Mr. Otterton jumped, dodging something at it splat onto the ground before he and Manchas vanished before a black van arrived and the driver, who was a ram, growled angrily as he shouted "Dang it! I missed!"

"I told you that you couldn't aim that thing right while driving." The other ram he was sitting next to said.

"Hey, what do you chumps think your doing?!" Finnick shouted "Were you trying to kill that otter or what?"

"No," the ram passenger said "We were trying to turn him and that jaguar back into savages with the Night Howler flowers so our boss could continue with her plan to turn all prey animals against predator animals so they would rule the city and all predators would be locked up. She just kind of didn't expect prey animals turning savage as well thanks to those cookies of those humans and..." he trailed off when he noticed the shocked looks on the faces of the human, otter and fox and sheepishly added "Uh, did I say that out loud?"

"You idiot!" the ram with the gun cried as he hit the other ram's head hard.

"RUN!" Ella cried before the ram took aim and fired a different gun, one that launched a net that captured Ella, Finnick and Mrs. Otterton before they could escape. As they struggled, more rams from the back of the van emerged and dragged the captured trio into the back before the ram with the gun took out Ella's backpack, Finnick's costume and Mrs. Otterton's jacket.

"Now what are we going to do Doug?" asked the ram "Thanks to my big mouth, they know our big plans!"

"That is why we scratch them out before anyone else gets wise." Doug said "Step one, get rid of the evidence."

With that he put the elephant costume and the otter sized jacket into Ella's backpack before dropping the bag into the sewers before closing the metal lid once the floating backpack disappeared from sight. He faced his friend and said "Now for step two, let's take them somewhere where nobody would ever find them and leave them there to rot."

"Like the caves in Sahara Square?" asked the other ram

"No, to predictable." Doug said "It has to be somewhere remote... somewhere abandoned... somewhere..." then he got an idea and said "I think I have just the place."

Meanwhile Nick continued on his search, feeling guilty about what he had just said to Finnick. He was about to give up when something familiar popped out of the sewage drain nearby, it was Ella's backpack! He dove into the waters and pulled it out. When he opened it to make sure nothing was damaged, he discovered Finnick's elephant costume and Mrs. Otterton's jacket inide as well.

Nick realized right away that something terrible must've happened to them as he picked up his phone and tried to call Finnick, unaware that the rams had destroyed his phone to prevent anyone from reaching him, Ella and Mrs. Otterton. With no way to reach his friend, Nick knew something was wrong and began to suspect something tragic happened to them.

'What if Finnick was right?' Nick thought to himself sadly 'What if Ella really is... gone... and now Finnick is... and that lady otter...'

He tried to deny it but the more he tried the more he felt his hope fading away until at last he began to cry as he whispered "Ella... i'm so sorry."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

Judy continued to drive the police car as fast as she possibly could as she came to the boarders of Bunny Burrow while she gripped the wheel tightly within her hands.

'Please, please let me get there in time' Judy prayed desperately in her head.

It wasn't long before Judy finally made it to her home and quickly parked the car. She unbuckled her seatbelt before opening the door and began to run towards the front door of her home. Judy quickly knocked on the door bell and waited with baiting breath for someone to open the door. After a moment the front door opened to reveal Judy's mother Bonnie, who was surprised to see her daughter standing in front of her.

"Judy, what are you doing here?" Asked Bonnie

"No time to explain." Answered Judy "Is dad back?"

"Y-Yes," Bonnie replied with a stutter "He's in the kitchen and he's trying to keep those boxes of cookies away from your siblings."

Judy quickly slipped passed her mother as she raced to the kitchen to see five of her little siblings trying to make a grab for the cookies while Stu held one box high above his head after he had managed to keep the other one on top of the fridge before he had been cornered by his kids, now he was trying to keep this box out of their hands before they spoil their dinner.

"You kids will just have to wait until after supper to have cookies!" he exclaimed as he gave his children a stern look.

Suddenly, one of Judy's little brothers jumped into the kitchen counter and made a leap to grab the box of cookies. Judy acted quickly as she jumped forward and grabbed her brother around the waist in mid air and held him tight in her arms before she shouted to get everyone's attention.

"Everyone FREEZE!"

At the sound of her voice, everyone turned to look in surprise while they stared at Judy standing in front of them with a look of relief on her face. Judy's little siblings soon cried out in joy when they saw their big sister standing in front of them.

"Judy!" the children cheered

"Judy, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at that big conference?" asked Stu in shock and surprise.

"I was," Judy said as she set her brother down "But something unexpected came up and it was really important that I get to you before any of you ate those cookies you brought."

"What do you mean?" Stu asked in confusion.

"Dad... those cookies are poisonous." Judy said.

"WHAT?!" Stu exclaimed, nearly losing his grip on the box of cookies.

"Poisonous!" Exclaimed all of Judy's siblings as they quickly backed away in fear.

"What do you mean their poisonous Judy?" Bonnie asked as she walked into the kitchen with a panicked look on her face.

Judy collected the two boxes from her dad and the fridge as she explained what had happened at the press conference, how the prey animals turned savage after they ate the cookies the humans made, how Mr. Jefferson had made two human children work like slaves in the bakery and how they got some strange berries they thought were blueberries after Mr. Jefferson was nearly robbed by a weasel. After hearing what their daughter had told them Bonnie and Stu had a look of worry on their faces, while their younger children quickly gathered around them.

"Oh dear," Bonnie said fearfully "If you hadn't came home as quickly as you did then..."

"I don't even want to think about it!" Stu exclaimed as he stopped his wife from finishing her sentence before calming down as a look of confusion came over him "There's just one thing I don't get thought. How could there be berries that can make animals go nuts? The only plant I know that can do that are the Midnicampum Holicithias flowers. You know, the ones I use to keep bugs out of my garden?"

"Still it was a good thing you came along, otherwise it would've been the Terry incident all over again!" Bonnie said

Judy became curious with the news "What do you mean?"

"A long time ago when your mother and I were kids, your uncle Terry ate one by accident." Stu explained.

"Yep, and after he did, he went completely nuts." Added Bonnie "Nearly attacked me!"

"Nearly attacked you? He bit you in the arm!" Stu said "Left a good sized bite mark too."

Judy began to put the pieces of the puzzle together before remembering that before she took on the Otterton case, she busted a weasel named Duke Weaselton for stealing plant bulbs from a florist pig, the very same plant bulbs her father said was used to keep bugs out of his garden and turned her uncle savage... still, she had one question to ask.

"Is there another name for the flowers?" Judy asked "You know a shorter name?

Stu thought for a moment before he finally answered "If I remember correctly, the shorter name for those flowers are Night Howlers."

Suddenly everything made since! The flowers, the bulbs Duke stole, Mr. Otterton, who was a florist, the Night Howlers Mr. Manchas mentioned, their savage behavior, it was all because of the flowers!

"That's it!" Judy exclaimed excitingly "Those berries in the cookies aren't berries at all! They're the liquid form from extracted Night Howlers! That's what has been making both predator and prey animals go savage!"

"But how did they end up in those cookies?" Bonnie asked "Could the weasel have done something?"

"That's what i'm going to find out." Judy said as she quickly made her way to the front door "I gotta get back to Zootopia and tell the ZPD all about this!"

Judy was almost out the door but quickly doubled back to give her parents a quick hug followed with a kiss and giving her little brother, Robert, an affectionate pat on the head.

"Bye guys, I love you! And happy birthday Robert!" shouted Judy over her shoulder as she took the boxes of poisonous cookies with her as she ran out the door and towards her police car.

After placing the boxes of cookies on the passenger seat, she quickly buckled herself in before starting up the car and started driving back to Zootopia. As Judy was driving back she couldn't help but worry about Nick and decided to look for him first to tell him the news.

'I got to find Nick and tell him what the Night Howlers really are,' Judy said to herself 'I also got to help him find Ella as well'

At the thought of Ella, Judy tightened her grip on the wheel, she thought about how she had met Nick and Ella back when her first case all began and she couldn't help but feel more worried about the young human girl. Ella had been one of the few who believed in her and her dream of being a police officer. Ella had really helped with the case of the missing animals and the young human had such a deep connection with Nick that it was like she was his daughter. And she had to admit, that little girl had took a shine on her too, like she was also part of her family. Granted a very tall, furless and different from her species family member, but part of the family nonetheless. A smile soon played out on Judy's face as a confident look came over her.

'I'm going to help you and Nick get back together Ella," thought Judy as she began to speed the car up to go faster 'No matter what it takes, we will find you.'

* * *

Back with Nick, he was sitting alone on a wooden bench as he held Ella's backpack close to his chest, while a few tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Ella... I'm so sorry," Nick whispered to himself "I wish I could've protected you better."

Nick didn't know how long he had been sitting on the bench when he unconsciously slipped his hand into his left pocket when the tip of his fingers brushed against something. He quickly pulled out Ella's flower bracelet and gazed down at it thoughtfully as he began to remember Ella telling him how she lost her mother and father when she was really young. He also remembered how Ella dreamed about coming to Zootopia to meet her favorite animal, which was him, and making animal friends in the progress, which was a little easy since who couldn't help but like her the moment they met her? Nick gently gripped the bracelet in his hands as he held it close to his chest like it was the most precious thing in the world to him.

"I can't give up now" Nick said softly to himself "What would Ella think if she knew that I gave up this easily in trying to find her?"

Nick quickly placed the bracelet back into his pocket and got off from the bench while slinging the backpack onto his shoulder and started to continue on with his search for not only Ella, but for Finnick and Mrs. Otterton. Nick barely got a few steps in when he heard a familiar growl behind him and quickly turned around to see Manchas and Mr. Otterton standing before him.

Nick then did what any fox on a mission this dangerous, risky and life risking would do; he screamed like a girl and fainted dead away.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

The sun was starting to set over the Zootopia skyline by the time Judy finally made it back to the city. She had made up her mind to find Nick first and tell him about her findings as well as look for Ella before delivering the cookies to the ZPD. She just hoped Nick had been doing alright and wasn't in serious trouble. Most importantly, she hoped Ella was alright, but she had a feeling that she wasn't.

Just before she could take another turn she saw Manchas and Otterton dragging Nick down a dirt road while Nick clung to Ella's backpack, which the Jaguar was carrying by his teeth. The sight nearly caused Judy to ram into a telephone pole but she moved out of the way, parked the car and jumped out as fast as her bunny legs could carry her and, grabbing the fox repellent she had, she stood before the pair of predators shouting "Drop that fox or I'll spray you all silly!"

Suddenly, before Judy knew it, Otterton pounced on her and as the rabbit braced herself for the worst, the otter only sniffled her and patted her head as if she was a pet. Judy was surprised by this and leaned up, realizing her friend was now running towards her and helping her up as he said "About time you came back Carrots, I was worried I was going to have to be stuck with the savage pair forever."

"Nick! You're not... they... how?" Judy asked in surprise "Why didn't they attack?"

"I have no idea, guess it had something to do with that whole 'Music sooths the savage beast' thing Ella said." Nick said as he leaned against Manchas, who purred in response "This guy's so tamed it almost makes you want to pet him like a regular house cat those humans have as pets."

Judy looked at Manchas, who smiled and bared his fangs at the rabbit, and her face turned green before saying "Uh, I don't think so."

"By the way, is that fox repellent I see?" Nick said "The same one I saw you carry the day we first met?"

Judy, realizing she still had the can out, tried to hide it as she said "No! No! It's... uh, a new kind of... flavor mouth spray! But it's the wrong flavor, it's raspberry and I'm more partial to carrots and..."

"First off, you are a terrible liar." Nick said with a frown "Second, we can talk about that later, right now we have to find Ella and I think these guys are taking me to her."

"How?" Judy asked

Nick took out Finnick's costume and said "I've seen humans do it with their dogs on TV once. Just put something that belongs to someone else under their nose and they pick up the sent."

He put the costume under Manchas' nose and the jaguar began to sniff it, then he lowered his nose to the ground, trying to find the right sent before he raised his head back and nodded down the road.

"Huh, I think it's working!" Judy exclaimed happily before she took Nick's hand and said "Come on, we can follow them in my car!"

As the sky darkened the police car drove down an abandoned road as they continued to fallow Manchas and Mr. Otterton. Nick was wary of the cookies since he knew how dangerous they were and spied something that made him smile, blueberries.

"Are those for me?" Nick asked

"I made a quick stop and got you some," Judy said "Figured you might need something to snack on during the search."

"And believe me, the search is far from over." Nick said, clutching the backpack in his arms while popping some berries into his mouth.

They soon arrived at Zootopia's boat shipping yard, which was located at the edge of town where boats came and went to sail from. There was an old warehouse nobody went into because of how old it had become over the years that it slowly began to fall apart. If Manchas and Mr. Otterton were heading for it, then that would be where they would find the others.

They parked the car and entered through a large hole in the wall, since using the front door would give them away, and snuck past some crates, broken boats and other pieces of junk before arriving inside the large area that held boats that no longer worked. Rams were guarding the gang plank and dangling over the edge was a cage, a metal cage that held Finnick, Mrs. Otterton and Ella inside, tied to the bars while the rams made their rounds, awaiting orders from someone by the look of things. When Nick saw Ella tied up, his blood boiled in anger. Whoever was responsible was going to regret this big time.

"Come on guys!" Finnick pleaded with the rams "How about we make a deal? You want rugs, I got rugs and carpets! You want ice cream, I can make you hundreds! Just let me outta here! These ropes are shafting!"

"Zip it puffball." one of the rams said.

"Just you wait until Nick and Judy get here," Ella said "Your going to be so sorry you ever even heard of Night Howlers!"

"I said zip it!" the ram snapped, banging a stick at the cage to make the captives quiet.

"Why that-let me at him!" Nick snarled. He was about to run over there to smack the ram silly when Judy stopped him.

"Nick, let's think of a plan first!" Judy whispered to him "If we're not careful, we might end up captured next!"

"How dare you talk like that to a child!" Exclaimed Mrs. Otterton, who was not happy about how the ram was treating Ella "You all ought to be ashamed of yourselves!"

Then the ram's phone rang and her answered it saying "Hey Boss! No, no problems here. Sure there was a snag, but we managed to... oh, Doug went back to his lab to wait for your orders... And yeah we made sure no more of those pallets leaked out. Doug really made a boo boo when he made one to many of those pallets. Yeah, you'd think the guy was thinking humans were invading again!"

Unknown to him Judy and Nick were sneaking up behind him from the shadows as he continued his call to his boss "I know, and he made a bigger one when that weasel Duke got the pallets switched with those blueberries by mistake. What kind of idiot can't tell a pallet from a berry? Apparently not Duke or that human Mr. What's his name. So what should we do with these... uh, three little problems of ours?" He listened for a while before nodding and saying "Okay boss, will do. Zane out."

The ram, Zane, put away his phone and walked over to the cage saying "Okay, I got good news and bad news. The bad news is that the boss wants you dead, and seeing how your in the cage, I think it's safe to say that we will drown you."

"What?!" Finnick, Ella and Mrs. Otterton exclaimed in terror.

"The good news is that it's a death that doesn't involve a lot of pain." Zane said.

"What kind of good news is that?!" Finnick exclaimed in horror.

"The kind you should be grateful to have compared to what I can do to you." Zane said as he reached for the lever.

BONK!

Zane fell over in a heap after Nick had struck his head with a frying pan that he found in the junk pile before he could pull the lever. Once Ella saw him she smiled as she said "Daddy!"

Nick felt his heart leap with joy when Ella called him 'Daddy' and he began to untie her rope as he whispered to her "Don't worry baby, daddy's here. Daddy's got you."

"Hey, what am I?" Finnick asked in annoyance "Don't forget about me!"

"I'm getting to you, next pal." Nick said.

Judy began to untie Mrs. Otterton as she said "I am so sorry you got mixed up in all this Mrs. Otterton. Don't worry, we'll make sure you are sent back home as soon as possible."

"Not without my husband I'm not!" Mrs. Otterton said "Savage or no, I've come to far to lose my Emmitt now."

"Your husband's one lucky guy." Nick said with a grin "Even if he's lost his mind."

BANG!

A net flew over their heads as the group turned to see more rams coming, armed with next gun as they charged towards them. Judy managed to pick the lock and free Finnick and Mrs. Otterton but Nick was struggling to try and undo Ella's knot.

"We have to get out of here!" Judy exclaimed.

"Wait! I'm not done with Ella yet, the knot's stuck!" Nick cried as he tried in vain to undo the knot by force.

"Nick, hurry!" Ella cried in alarm, fearing for both her and her friends' lives more then ever.

Judy, Finnick and Mrs. Otterton did their best to keep the rams at bay but they were losing. That was when Judy whistled and Manchas and Mr. Otterton charged out, biting, snarling and scaring the rams half to death before they ran away in terror. Judy even used the fox repellent on one of the rams, sending him screaming in pain before he ran away. Judy smiled as she took out a pen and crossed out 'Fox' with 'Bad Guy' making it a Bad Guy Repellent.

Just then one of the rams tossed a rock at Manchas, but missed and the rock struck the lever, sending the whole cage, and Ella still tied up inside, crashing into the water!

"NO!" Nick shouted in horror.

Acting in response, Mrs. Otterton ran to the edge of the gangplank and dove into the water, her savaged husband fallowing her down into the murky waters. Mrs. Otterton swam inside the cage to keep the door open and Mr. Otterton bit the ropes apart, freeing Ella before Mrs. Otterton took hold of her and swam her outside the cage before it hit the sea bottom. Mr. and Mrs. Otterton took hold of Ella's hands and helped her swim back to the surface.

Back on dry land, Nick, Judy and Finnick were leaning over the edge, trying to find any sign of life. Nick felt tears forming in his eyes before a bubbling sound caught their attention before the Ottertons and Ella splashed through the waters as Ella gasped for air and coughed while the otters swam her to a lower platform where they helped her climb up and catch her breath on dry land before they jumped out themselves.

Judy and Nick ran towards their friend and embraced her in a fierce hug with relived smiles on their faces. Nick held her the longest before giving her back her backpack and her bracelet, which Ella was so happy to have back. Zane managed to get back up on his feet and grabbed a gun with a pallet inside before he took aim of Nick, pulling the trigger just as they parted and the pallet struck Ella instead, making her gasp in surprise when the pallet hit her.

"ELLA!" Nick exclaimed in shock.

Judy quickly overcame Zane and handcuffed him to a pipe before saying "Not so fast you woolly bully! You better stay here while I call backup to pick you up."

"You should be more worried about your human friend." Zane said as he pointed his free hand at Ella.

Nick looked at her for a moment before he said "Ha, looks like you can't make humans savage like you can with animals."

Zane laughed and said "Oh no, it doesn't turn humans savage... but the toxic flower does have a powerful effect on humans... you see, instead of turning humans savage, it kills them!"

"Kills them?!" the animals gasp in horror.

"Yeah, once it hits human skin, the poison seeps thought their bodies and after 12 or so hours with no cure, they die!" Zane said "And good luck trying to find an antidote for that!"

Nick was so angry he punched the ram right in the face, knocking him out cold. Ella then began to cough and felt a throbbing headache as she held her head and moaned. Nick held her close and knew that Ella had been poisoned and knew they had to do something and fast.

"I have an idea." Judy said "Finnick, you take the poisoned cookies back to the ZPD and tell them everything about what we've learned. You can ride on Mr. Manchas with Otterton."

"Say What!?" Finnick asked in shock "You want me to parade around the city in the dead of night to the fuzz on the back of that thing!?" as he pointed to Manchas, who licked his paws while Otterton scratched his ear.

"Come on Buddy, do it for me." Nick said "And for Ella."

Finnick tried to argue but he grunted and finally let out a sigh saying "Alright, but neither of these guys better get any funny ideas about me."

"Take this... in case you encounter any more savages." Ella said, giving the Finnick fox the radio "Play soothing music and... they'll be calm and tamed."

"Mrs. Otterton, you come with us and take care of Ella." Judy said "We need someone to stay in the police car and take care of her so doesn't get hurt again."

"I promise that I'll do my best." Mrs. Otterton said

"And Nick, I have a question to ask you." Judy said before she showed him a picture of Duke Weaselton, the same weasel she busted long before, and asked "Do you know this guy?"

Nick took one look at Duke and said "Uh huh, I told you before, I know everybody."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

It didn't take long for Judy and Nick to find Duke as the weasel was trying to sell some bootlegged movies to customers who weren't really interested. They left Ella in the car with Mrs. Otterton so that they could have a talk with Duke themselves.

"Well hello, step right up!" Duke called as a female armadillo walked up to take a look at the movies that were on the table "Anything you need, I got. All your favorite movies! I got movies that hadn't even been released yet!"

The Armadillo lady wasn't interested and began to walk away, but Duke kept persisting.

"The movies are 50% off. 20! Make me an offer, come on!" Duke shouted in frustration as the lady walked away.

"Well, well, look who it is," Nick said as he and Judy walked up to Duke with serious looks on their faces "The Duke of Bootlegged."

"What's it to you Wilde, shouldn't you be melting down a popsicle or something?" Duke said with a glare before smirking at Judy "Hey, if it isn't Flopsy the Copsy."

"We both know those weren't moldy onions I caught you stealing," Judy said with her arms crossed over her chest before she got down to business "What were you going to do with those Night Howlers, Weselton?"

"It's Weaselton, Duke Weaselton," corrected Duke in annoyance before smirking as he held a toothpick between his fingers "And I isn't talkin' rabbit and there's nothing"-Duke flicked the toothpick at Judy's face to prove his point-"you can do to make me."

Nick and Judy looked at each other as the same idea came into their heads. If the weasel wasn't going to cooperate then drastic measures were going to have to be taken. Nick and Judy soon took Duke to Tundra Town where Mr. Big finally owed Judy the favor he promised her for rescuing his daughter.

"Ice him." said Mr. Big

One of the polar bears held Duke by the back of his shirt while the other removed the loose floorboard and Duke found himself hanging over a pool of ice cold water. The weasel let out a yelp and began to thrash around to try and escape the polar bear's grip, but failed before he turned to glare at Mr. Big, Nick and Judy. Nick and Judy were calmly standing beside the desk with Nick sipping tea from a small cup as they watched the weasel hanging in the air in front of them.

"You dirty rat!" Duke growled "Why are you helping her, she's a cop!?"

"And the godmother to my future granddaughter." Mr. Big added as Fru Fru walked up wearing a green dress with signs of showing pregnancy.

"I'm going to name her Judy." Fru Fru said with a smile.

Judy cooed as she held her hands to her chest, feeling honored by what the soon to be mother said while Nick smiled in amusement and Mr. Big chuckled before turning to his polar bear guards again.

"Ice this weasel." Mr. Big ordered.

Duke screeched before he finally cracked "Alright, alright, please, I'll talk! I'll talk! I stole the Night Howlers so I could sell them. They offered me what I couldn't refuse... money."

"And to whom did you sell them?" Judy asked with her arms crossed her chest once again.

"A ram named Doug." Duke replied "We've got a drop spot underground. Just watch it, Doug is the opposite of friendly, he's unfriendly."

After getting the information, they let Duke go. Nick and Judy quickly raced back to the car and opened the back door to check on Ella, who was lying down on her side as Mrs. Otterton gently stroked the girl's head.

"How's she doing?" Nick asked as he walked in and knelt down beside Ella's form.

"So far she's doing fine," Mrs. Otterton replied "But she's taking on a fever."

Nick gently stroked Ella's face as he stared down at the human girl in worry. Ella let out a cough before she opened her eyes when she felt Nick's touch.

"Nick?" Ella asked.

"Shhh... I'm here Kiddo, I'm right here." Nick said in a soothing voice.

Judy walked up to see Ella as well and Nick made a little room for the rabbit so she could be closer to the human girl. Judy gently placed her paw on Ella's left arm and gave the girl a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry Ella, we're all here." Judy said softly.

Ella smiled before she said "I gotta tell you guys about something."

"What is it?"

"Before me, Finnick and Mrs. Otterton were captured by the rams, they said something about a plan to turn all the predators in the city savage so that the prey would fear the predators... so that all the prey would rule the city and predators would be locked away in cages... I... I overheard one of them saying that the boss was a lady... and she was happy that prey were going savage too... thanks to us humans."

Judy's eyes went wide at what Ella had told her and troubled thoughts filled the rabbit officer's head.

'If I had said that predators were returning to their primitive savage ways because of their biology due to what Mr. Madge had told Lionheart, then I would have made things worse for both predator and prey' thought Judy as she turned her gaze to the floor 'I would have..."

Judy quickly cut off that thought as she shut her eyes tightly and bit her lower lip as guilt rose within her chest. She would have lost a friendship that she had made with Nick by saying those words. Nick noticed Judy's actions and was about to ask her what was wrong when Ella spoke up again.

"I also remember where I heard the name 'Night Howlers' before," Ella said "They were dangerous flowers that became illegal in my hometown for a long time after the people found out how dangerous they were, the hard way... twenty people died after they took a sniff of those flowers and they had to be destroyed before they could do anymore damage. My mother was one of them, she took a sniff of one of those flowers after receiving them as a gift from some stranger. Guess she never knew how dangerous it was until it was too late."

Tears slowly swelled up in Ella's eyes as she began to fell fear coursing all over her system "And now I'm going to-"

"Don't you even dare finish that sentence young lady!" Nick scolded as Ella, Judy and Mrs. Otterton looked at him in surprise "You're not going to die Ella, not as long as I'm still breathing, alright? Look, we only have eleven hours left to find an antidote to cure you. All you have to do is hang tight and don't give up."

Ella stared up at Nick in surprise before smiling as hope glowed within her after she heard what Nick had told her.

"Okay, I'll keep holding on Daddy." Ella said in a quiet voice.

Nick smiled as he petted Ella on the head "That's my girl."

Judy and Nick quickly got out of the back and closed the door before opening the front doors to sit in the front seats. Judy took the wheel as she and Nick buckled up before they drove off towards the drop spot Duke had told them to go. As they drove on, Judy looked over at Nick, who kept his gaze on the car's front window. Judy swallowed as she tried to think about what to say to Nick, but she couldn't find any words to say that would comfort her fox friend. She just gripped the car's wheel and focused her attention on the road but after a moment of silence, Nick spoke up, nearly surprising Judy.

"I'm not giving up Judy." he said as he continued to look forward at the front window.

Judy smiled at him before she said "And neither am I Nick. No matter what it takes we will save Ella, and all of Zootopia as well, Predator and Prey alike."

Nick looked at Judy and smiled at her with a look of gratitude on his face.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

Back at the ZPD, all the officers were swarming with distressed phone calls and panicked visits from various animals of all shapes and sizes. It was unlike anything they had ever handled. Some of the animals couldn't stay in line as they crowd poor Clawhauser's desk, leaving the poor cheetah to hide under his desk and fend off his 'attackers' with his doughnuts to save himself. Some tried to take some muzzles and weapons by force and the other officers were doing all they could to prevent them from getting anywhere near the armory and in Chef Bogo's office, he was having the granddaddy of all migraines answering one call to another while trying to handle the reporters who had barged in to have a word with him. Naturally it was mass chaos in the ZPD.

Chief Bogo had let the last of the reporters out the door before he slammed it shut and sighed, falling down to the floor in a huff as he rubbed his head and said "Where's that bunny cop Hopps when I need her?"

Before the bunny found the missing mammals he had thought that Judy would break under the pressure of being a cop or quit due to being a boring meter maid for far to long but now he was wishing she'd come back from wherever she was and settle everything. Sure things fell apart but it was all because of that Jefferson human, Judy was only doing her part in her job. He tried to think of something but this throbbing headache due to the reporters protesting questions was far to painful.

Then the door opened and the cape buffalo quickly sat up to see Clawhauser, gasping for air and covered in frosting with a terrified look on his face.

"Chief Bogo! We've got a big problem! We have an angry mob outside, in fact all around the building, demanding help to protect themselves from both prey and predator and they are threatening to start a riot if we don't do something!"

"A riot? This is just great, just great!" Bogo sighed "My father never had any problems like this when he was chief of police. We have to set up barriers, send more patrol officers, arm ourselves with-"

Just then Officer McHorn arrived and he said "Chief! We got another problem!"

"What is it now?" The buffalo sighed "More reporters? Angry citizens?"

"That Jefferson human escaped!" the rhino exclaimed.

"WHAT!?" The cape Buffalo exclaimed in shock "How could you lose a full grown human?!"

Suddenly the whole building fell silent as music filled the halls and Chief Bogo, Clawhauser and McHorn ran out of the room to see what was going on. Their jaws dropped when they saw Finnick, riding on Manchas' back along with Mr. Otterton, leading a parade of relaxed and hypnotized savage animals, prey and predator alike, in the strangest parade that anyone in Zootopia had ever seen. The onlookers took pictures with cameras while others did on their phones.

"Hey there," Finnick said, reclining on the jaguar's back as he kept his paws on the radio and the boxes of poisonous cookies "Get my good side while your at it."

Chief Bogo was the first to approach the fox, who slid off the jaguar and approached him as the cape buffalo exclaimed "What is the meaning of this!? We're on the verge of city wide panic and your parading around like your in the Mousey's Thanksgiving Day parade!"

"I've come with the cookies that we can use to make a cure for these savages." Finnick said "And I rounded up as much of these savages with as much music this radio's got. And believe me, neither bringing the cookies or the savages here was easy."

Chief Bogo rubbed his head and said "At this point, I'll believe anything anyone says."

* * *

Meanwhile Nick and Judy had found the subway station entrance that was chained and boarded up, looking like no one had entered the place in years. However this was where Doug made his secret drop and the pair knew they had to go in and find him. Nick and Judy left the car but not before Nick opened the backset to check on Ella, who was starting to sweat and breath heavily.

"Don't worry sweetie, Daddy won't be long." Nick told the girl "Just stay in the car and whatever you do don't leave Mrs. Otterton's side."

"Will I be okay?" Ella asked before she let out a cough.

"Of course sweetie, you'll be okay." Nick said before he snarled and clinched his fists "That ram on the other hand will get more then just a good life sentence in prison by the time I'm through with him."

With that Nick gave Ella a quick kiss before departing with Judy to the underground subway. Ella smiled as she watched the pair vanish into the subway before she spied someone familiar walking around in the night. It was Jefferson! Ella wanted to call out but she felt too weak to shout so she and Mrs. Otterton rolled down the window and watched him as he took out his phone and talked to someone on the other end.

"Yes, I-No I told you before it wasn't my fault those blueberries of mine were switched with your... things! You could've at least told me what those pallets have looked like before I put them in the cookies! That's the last time I hire that weasel Duke to be our delivery boy! No, I am not staying! I'm getting out of here before anyone gets wise! I don't care what you say, i'm skipping town and hiding my face until this whole thing blows over. I told you that those Night Howlers I gave you was a bad idea, but did you listen to me? No, I-I wasn't implying anything against you, I'm implying that this whole operation is falling apart and I'm jumping ship before it sinks! You can stay here all you want but at least I know which one of us knows when to quit when we're ahead Bellwether! Good bye!"

"Bellwether?" Mrs. Otterton gasped in shock as Ella and the otter sunk below the car window to avoid being seen while Jefferson walked away, not noticing the car or the pair one bit.

"You think he means that nice sheep we met?" Ella asked

"I don't know." Mrs. Otterton said before she angrily said "But if it is, i'm going to give her such a pinch."

Ella struggled to stand back up as she said "We... we have to warn Nick and Judy about this! We have to help them!"

"No, you're too weak!" Mrs. Otterton exclaimed in worry "You might collapse any moment or your condition will get worse!"

"I don't care!" Ella said "If I die, at least it will be for the city, the wonderful animals and even the family I have with Nick, Judy... and even you."

Mrs. Otterton felt touched before she said "Well, alright, but I'm coming with you. I'm still in charge of taking care of you. Maybe we can find a solution while we're at it."

Mrs. Otterton climbed into Ella's backpack and dug around until she found Ella's phone, turning on it's flashlight so she and Ella could see inside the subway. Ella found an abandoned waking cane nearby and grabbed it. At least she'd have something to lean against and help her stay on her own two feet. With that both she and Mrs. Otterton went into the subway to catch up with Judy and Nick, unaware of what was to come once they were down there.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

Nick and Judy made their way down the stairs too where the drop off was underground. They paused for a few moments to let a train run past them before they made their way to a rusty old train cart that was abandoned in the subway. The Dou climbed through an open window and what they saw confirmed the information they got from Duke. Inside the old train cart were two rows of metal tables that held already grown Night Howlers. Judy and Nick quietly entered the cart and looked at the grown Night Howlers.

"The weasel wasn't lying." Judy said

"Yeah, looks like Doug cornered the market on Night Howlers." Nick said as he glared at the flowers.

Suddenly the two heard a squeaking noise behind them and turned around to see Ella, who had opened the back door of the train cart with Mrs. Otterton riding in her backpack. Ella quickly closed the door behind her as Nick and Judy quickly ran up to her as she limped on the abandoned cane.

"Ella, what are you doing here?!" Nick hissed in a quiet voice "We told you to stay in the car."

"I know, I'm sorry." Ella whispered as she clumsily knelt down and let Mrs. Otterton climb out of her backpack "But I have to tell you something important."

"What is it?" Judy asked curiously.

Ella was about to answer but then the door to the control system suddenly started to open. The group quickly ducked underneath the tables that held the Night Howlers as Doug came into the room. He was wearing yellow protective suit and placed on a oxygen mask as he walked up to a metal cooking pot that held the liquid extraction of Night Howler serum. The group watched as Doug pored the contents into a big metal container before placing the cooking pot on the ground behind him. He closed the lid of the metal container before turning on a switch as the liquid contents ran through a tube and went through many different flasks. Doug soon placed a small clear rubber sphere where the blue liquid was pushed into it. The ram picked up the serum that was in the pellet and examined it for a moment before his phone rang from his desk where a chart map was there on the wall with pictures of animals pinned to it. They were the same animals Doug had hit and turned savage with his reaction, including Mr. Otterton and Manchas. The ram took off his mask before he answered the phone. Nick looked at Mrs. Otterton and Ella and signaled for the two of them to stay before he and Judy quickly, and quietly, snuck towards another table and hid underneath it as they listened in on Doug's conversation with th other speaker.

"You got Doug here, what's the mark?" the ram asked as he examined a gun that he picked up from the table "Cheetah in Sahara Square, got it."

Judy and Nick watched on as Doug placed the pellet into the gun before he spoke to the animal on the other line again.

"Are you serious? Yeah I know their fast, I can it him. Listen, I hit a tiny little otter through the open window of a moving car."

Mrs. Otterton covered her mouth in horror after hearing what Doug had said. That was why her husband hadn't been acting like himself! Because Doug turned him into a savage! Ella looked at Mrs. Otterton in sympathy but signaled her to keep quiet as Doug continued to talk to the animal on the phone.

"I'll tell you when it's done," Doug said as he placed the gun, which he took apart, and placed it in a compartment suitcase "Or you'll see it on the news, you know whichever comes first."

Suddenly there was a loud knock at the backdoor of the cart along with a voice that shouted "Hey Doug, open up! We've got your latte!"

"Alright, Walter and Jessy are back so we're leaving now." Doug said as he began to walk towards the back of the train cart.

Judy began to slowly crawl out of her hiding place, which got Nick panicking.

"Hey, where are you going? Get back here!" Nick whispered fiercely "What are you doing? He's going to see you!"

Judy ignored Nick as she watched Doug head for the door before looking towards the control panel at the front.

"What are you looking at?" Nick asked in frustration "Hey! Whatever you're thinking stop thinking it! Carrots... Carrots!"

Doug opened the back door of the train cart and faced two more tams that held up a coffee cup.

"There better not be extra foam this time." He said before he was kicked out by Judy, who kicked him right into the other rams in surprise.

Judy quickly closed the backdoor and locked it as Ella, Mrs. Otterton and Nick came out of their hiding places with Nick shouting at Judy in anger "What are you doing? You just trapped all of us in here!"

"We need to get this evidence to the ZPD!" Judy exclaimed

"What?" Nick asked before he quickly understood and closed the lid of the case that held the gun as he grabbed it off the desk "Okay, great, here it is, got it!"

"No, all of it!" Judy stated in determination.

"Wait, what!?" Nick asked in shock as he, Ell and Mrs. Otterton followed Judy to the front of the cart.

Judy began to mess around with the controls on the old train cart as the others watched her.

"Oh great, so you're a conductor now, huh?" Nick asked before he tried to reason with Judy "Hey, listen, it would take a miracle to get this rust bucket going!"

As soon as those words left Nick's mouth, the old train cart began to move as Judy turned the lever around in a circle to get the cart to start running.

"You were saying?" Ella asked with a smirk.

"Well, Halleluiah." Nick said in defeat and amazement.

Ell let out a chuckle before coughing as she leaned against the wall before she slumped to the floor. Nick and Mrs. Otterton quickly came over to check on her.

"Ella?" Nick asked in worry.

"I... I'm okay." Ella said with a smile "I just got a little too excited."

"Just relax and don't move." Nick said before he jumped onto the driver seat to stand beside Judy as she drove the cart "Mission accomplished."-he then noticed the little rope that hung behind him before looking at Judy-"Would it be premature of me to do a little victory toot-toot?"

"Alright," Judy said with a smile as she looked at Nick who grabbed the rope to pull on it before adding "One toot-toot."

Nick smirked as he pulled on the rope to sound the horn on the train cart before glancing at Judy "Well, I can cross that off the bucket list."

Suddenly the group jumped when they heard a loud thud in the back before they slowly turned to see what it was. Then, without warning, one of the rams suddenly dropped in from the back of the cart and began to charge towards the front. Nick, thinking fast, quickly closed the door and stood back as he cringed when the ram crashed into the door, leaving a dent on the door. Nick quickly locked the door before looking out through the window to see the ram trying to open the door. Ella also looked through the window before sticking out her tongue out at the ram with Nick smirking at the ram, but the two quickly ducked down when the ram butted his head against the glass window.

Nick turned to Judy and said "I may have to resend that victory toot-toot."

Then the group heard a heavy thudding sound on the roof of the train and they grew nervous.

"What's that?" Ella asked.

"Maybe it's just hail." Nick replied with a nervous smile.

"In the middle of summer?" Mrs. Otterton asked.

Suddenly the front window of the train was broken by a ram with an eye patch as he furiously tried to make a grab at Judy. Nick growled as he grabbed the arm of the ram as he tried to keep him from getting his hands on Judy.

"Back off!" Nick shouted.

The ram threw Nick back as the fox slammed against the dented door as the wind got knocked out of him for a second before he was jolted forward by the impact from the door behind him. Nick quickly looked through the window and saw the large ram running towards the door. Nick thought fast as he unlocked the door while shouting a warning to Judy.

"In coming!"

Nick opened the door and pressed himself against it as the ram ran past him and slammed into the other ram that had grabbed hold of Judy, thus knocking them both out through the window. Judy managed to grab hold of the bigger ram's horns and hung on tight with all her might while Mrs. Otterton, Ella and Nick cried out to the bunny.

"Judy!/Carrots!"

"Don't stop, keep going!" Judy shouted to Nick who was now at the controls of the cart.

The ram that had been knocked out of the cart was running down the train track as he cried out "No, no, please stop!"

"Do not stop this cart!" Judy ordered.

Nick did as he was told as he continued driving the train cart. The ram that was running on the tracks quickly pressed himself up against the wall where he luckily avoided being run over, but in the process lost all of the wool on his stomach. The ram that Judy was hanging onto woke up and glared at the rabbit that was holding onto his horns before throwing his head up, thus sending Judy to the roof of the train car. The ram then smashed the window where Nick was driving the train and tried to make a grab at him. The shattering of glass made Ella flinch as she and Mrs. Otterton huddled together to protect one another. Suddenly there was the sound of a train horn up ahead and the pair looked out to see another train riding the same tracks they were on heading straight towards them. Judy suddenly popped her head down through the hatch from the back of the train car.

"Speed up Nick," she shouted at Nick to make sure he heard her order "Speed up!"

"There's another train coming!" Nick argued.

"Trust me, speed up!" Judy shouted.

Nick groaned before he turned to look back at Ella and Mrs. Otterton saying "Brace yourselves ladies, this might get ugly!"

Ella and Mrs. Otterton held on tight to each other as they waited for the impact on two trains to hit each other while Nick sped up. The ram quickly notice the train and yelled at Nick to stop but the fox kept going on with the plan. The ram gave a short scream before Judy suddenly appeared above him.

"Hey!" she shouted with a smirk "Need some help?"

Without waiting for an answer Judy slid down a metal railing as she slammed her feet against the ram, thus sending him flying and hitting a switch that made the train tracks that the group's cart was on turn in a different direction to avoid hitting another train. But the speeding momentum of the train and the sudden sharp turn caused it to topple over as Judy held on outside the broken glass window while the others were thrown to the other side of the cart with the case that held the gun falling onto Nick. The train cart skidded on its side as it slid into a tunnel with sparks picking up and creating fire in the back of the cart. The group quickly turned their attention in front of them and saw a dead end coming up.

"I think this is our stop!" Nick shouted.

Feeling the adrenalin coursing through her, Ella quickly grabbed Mrs. Otterton and fallowed Nick and Judy out of the train before jumping to the platform. Ella felt her breath get knocked out of her as she landed beside Nick with Mrs. Otterton safely held in her arms. The group sat up and watched as the train cart crashed into the concrete wall with a loud crash. The group was silent for a moment before Judy spoke up saying "Well... maybe, maybe some of the evidence survived."

But as soon as those words left her mouth the train cart exploded, thus taking away all the evidence that the group needed to give to the ZPD. A metal container whizzed past the group and exploded behind them. Nick let out a sigh before he turned his attention to Ella and Mrs. Otterton.

"Are you two okay?" Nick asked.

"Yes," replied Mrs. Otterton with a nod as she got out of Ella's arms.

"But the evidence," Ella said sadly as she stared at the wreckage "Isn't so fine."

"Everything is gone," Judy said in a soft sad voice "We've lost it all."

"Yeah," Nick muttered as he watched the flames die on the cart before he held up the case that had held the gun and serum inside "Oh, except for this."

Nick let out a proud laugh as the girls looked at him in surprise and amazement.

"Oh, Nick, Yes!" Judy cheered as she punched Nick in the shoulder, hard.

"Ow." Nick said but he was taken by surprise when Ella hugged him.

"You're the best Daddy!" Ella cheered before she kissed Nick on the cheek.

Nick smiled at Ella before Judy took the case from him "Come on, we gotta get to the ZPD!"

"How far is it!" Mrs. Otterton shouted as the group quickly ran up a flight of stairs.

"We can cut through the history museum!" replied Judy.

The group continued to run up the steps as they entered the history museum and began to race towards the main entrance, thinking that they were home free... unaware of a nasty surprise that would wait them once inside.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty One**

As they ran across the museum, Ella began to feel more and more weaker as they passed historical sights and facts of events that happened in the past. Just before they reached the exit doors, showing them the ZPD on the other side, Ella collapsed onto the floor with a thud, dropping the cane as she fell.

Nick was the first to stop and ran to her side as he held her close saying "Ella! Are you alright?"

"I... I don't feel good." Ella muttered before she let out a harsh cough.

"Come on baby, we still have a couple more hours to go before that Night Howler poison gets to you... you can make it!" Nick said "That ram told us we have twelve hours before it's too late."

"Actually he was mistaken," a voice said "She doesn't have much time left at all."

The group looked up and saw Bellwether approaching with two ram officers as Judy exclaimed "Bellwether! What are you doing here?"

"I overheard everything." Bellwether said "And I regret to inform you that the toxic flowers don't work the way you think. You see, if a adult human gets infected with it's poison, then it has twelve hours left to live, a human teenager will have eight, but a human child say... how old is she?"

"Eleven." Nick replied without thinking.

"Then that means she has only four hours... or should I say somewhere between two or one?" the sheep said "Either way, it won't be pretty."

Nick felt fear in his heart and realized his little girl was becoming more and more deathly ill then before. He tried to deny it but Ella was proof that Bellwether was right about the time limit they had left.

"Oh no, Ella!" Judy exclaimed in shock before she realized something "Wait... how could you know that?"

Mrs. Otterton gasped in horror as realization came over her "You're responsible for all this! You're turning all the predators and prey in Zootopia savage! That's why you have night howlers, that's why you turned my Emmitt into a savage!"

"It was only suppose to be predators only!" Bellwether snapped angrily, much to Nick and Judy's shock and surprise "I had it all planned for years; predators go savage, they get locked up, the rest are targeted until all that remains are prey and together we would rule the city the way we wanted it! Or at least it was until that idiot human Jefferson screwed it up by turning prey savage with those cookies thanks to that dumb weasel's mix up! Now both prey and predators fear each other and everything has fallen into total chaos! I had to disconnect all my phones but one because all those calls gave me a constant headache!"

"And because of you my baby's been poisoned!" Nick snapped angrily.

"Your baby? Oh, isn't that sweet, you think that she's your baby." Bellwether said before she added "How do you know she won't turn you into a fox skin belt or chop of Judy's feet or even turn this otter here into a trophy? That's what humans did to us many years ago!"

"That was then!" Judy exclaimed "Ella's nothing like those guys! She's friendly, sweet and all she wants is a family, some friends and a home. And I don't care what you do because we won't let you get away with this! We will cure all the savage animals, we will cure Ella and we will have you locked behind bars for thirty years or more even if we have to die trying!"

"Did you really have to say something related to death?" Nick asked.

"Alright then we'll do this your way," Bellwether said before she ordered "Get them!"

Judy and Nick ran, clutching the case as tight as they could while Mrs. Otterton and Ella ran the other way. Ella collapsed onto the ground once more and Mrs. Otterton did her best to help her back up but this time Ella couldn't get back up before one of the rams caught up to them as he snarled and ran towards them.

"Run... Run!" Ella told Mrs. Otterton.

"No way, I'm not living you behind." the otter said.

Ella coughed as Mrs. Otterton climbed into her arms for a comforting hug, just before the ram grabbed the otter and yanked her away. The ram was about to strike Mrs. Otterton with a punch when Ella grabbed him and did her best to protect the otter before being pushed away by the ram. Mrs. Otterton let out a scream as she braced for the hit. Suddenly the ram was tackled by something brown and fast. It was Mr. Otterton!

Mr. Otterton yanked wool from the ram's body, bit his arm and knocked him into a trash can, knocking him out and sent him, can and all, rolling down some stairs. Mrs. Otterton snarled before he huffed and walked over to his wife, sniffing her and whimpering in worry.

"It's alright honey." Mrs. Otterton said sweetly as she stoked the cheek of her feral husband "I'm alright... Thank you for rescuing me."

Finnick then ran into the room and sighed as he huffed and said "Oh man, this is getting old fast. I'm so not into babysitting crazy animals. So what did I miss? And what's wrong with the kid? She looks like me after I eat one to many veggie burgers."

With one glance, Mrs. Otterton realized Finnick was right and Ella was getting worse as the otters and the little fox ran to her side and Mrs. Otterton felt fear running down her spin before she turned to her husband saying "Emmitt, you know more about plants then anyone in Zootopia. You have to remember something about the Night Howlers and some kind of antidote for them. Please Emmitt, please remember."

At first it seemed like the desperate pleas weren't working. Then the otter sniffed the air and dug through Ella's backpack before pulling out the guide of Zootopia Ella had gotten long ago and ripped out several pages before showing them to his wife. They were pictures of herbs and flowers that Mrs. Otterton remembered seeing from their flower shop and they were the same plants Mrs. Otterton remembered seeing in the museum's cafeteria that they had just passed not to far back!

"Oh Emmitt! You're wonderful!" Mrs. Otterton exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around her husband "You stay here and protect Ella, I have to hurry and get to the cafeteria to make the antidote."

"What about me?" Finnick asked

"You stay and protect Ella," Mrs. Otterton said "And while your at it avoid the rams and make sure that Nick and Judy are alright!"

With that she ran off and Finnick sighed before his large ears picked up a sound; the sound of a gun going off and Nick crying out in pain.

"Oh man Nick, what did you get yourself into?" Finnick asked in worry.

Now he was stuck with a dilemma. What should he do? Should he stay and watch over the ailing Ella with Mr. Otterton or should he head out and see if his friend was alright?


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty Two**

A little earlier with Judy and Nick, the duo were running into a closed off enclosure to escape Bellwether and her goons. Judy took a glance behind to see if they were being fallowed but that action cost her as she didn't watch where she was going and accidently scratched her right leg on a wooly mammoth tusk. She let out a cry of pain as she fell to the floor, dropping the gun case in the progress. Nick quickly stopped in his tracks when he heard the cry and saw Judy clutching her leg.

"Carrots!" Nick exclaimed as he quickly ran back to help Judy.

Judy slowly lifted her hands from the wound and hissed in pain when she saw how deep the cut was before holding her hands over her wounded leg again. Nick knelt down and gently grabbed Judy around her waist.

"Don't worry, I got you." Nick whispered before he glanced towards the entrance for a second.

Judy quickly grabbed the handle of the gun case before Nick carried her to hide around a corner behind a pillar before the fox set her down on the floor. Judy leaned against the gun case while Nick dug into his right pocket for something to wrap around Judy's injured leg.

"Okay," Nick whispered as he pulled out a wrapped up red handkerchief "Now, just relax."

As Nick unfolded the handkerchief a bunch of blueberries fell out and landed on the floor. Nick had forgotten that he had a few storied blueberries Judy had given him before the confrontation and had saved them for a snack. Nick held a blueberry that was still lying inside the handkerchief and turned to Judy with an embarrassed smile.

"Blueberry?" he offered.

"Pass." Judy said weakly.

Nick ate the blueberry before he began to wrap up Judy's leg with the bunny letting out a groan. Nick quickly noticed that they were one animal and one child short.

"Where's Ella and Mrs. Otterton?" He asked.

"They must've ran off in another direction in the museum." Judy said.

Nick bit the bottom of his lip gently and hoped that Ella would be okay with Mrs. Otterton for a while. Judy then quickly turned her head when she suddenly heard Bellwether's voice came out from outside the exhibit entrance.

"Come on out, Judy!" called the lamb.

Judy quickly grabbed the gun case and shoved it towards Nick after he had finished wrapping her leg.

"Take the case!" Judy whispered "Get it to Bogo!"

Nick looked at Judy in defiance as he gently pushed the gun case away "I'm not gonna leave you behind, that's not happening."

Judy was the only prey... no, the only animal that looked past his façade he had grown to create as a typical sneaky fox and had become his close friend after going on a crazy adventure with her and Ella. He had grown to love her so much he wasn't going to abandon her and let Bellwether hurt the rabbit who had become an important part of his life.

"But I can't walk." Judy whispered desperately.

"Just... we'll think of something." Nick said before looking down at the scattered blueberries on the floor.

As he glanced down at the berries, he remembered how Jefferson and Duke had accidently mixed up the serum and the blueberries because of how they were the same color as one another. That's when an idea came into Nick's head.

'I just hope it works' thought Nick

They soon heard Bellwether calling out the rabbit's name again "We're on the same team Judy, underestimated, unappreciated, aren't you sick of it?!"

Nick quickly looked around and saw a prehistoric stuffed rabbit with antlers on it's head before turning to look at Judy again.

"I think I might have a plan to get Bellwether behind bars." he told her.

He quickly whispered his idea to Judy's ear and when he was finished, Judy looked at him in amazement.

"Do you think it will work?" Judy asked

"I hope so," Nick replied "but you have to trust me for this plan to work.

Judy stared at Nick for a moment as she contemplated his words before nodding her head at him.

"I trust you." Judy said.

Nick smiled before he took the case from Judy and started to set his plan into motion. Meanwhile Bellwether was still talking as her two guards were searching the room for any trace of Nick and Judy.

"Predators," the lamb said "They may be strong and loud, but prey outnumber predators ten to one! And don't even get me started with the humans! Sure, once upon a time we feared them and they hunted both predator and prey without a worry or care... now they're more like big furless pushovers with nothing but big egos and little to no survival skills compared to us."

That's when she noticed a shadow of a rabbit around the corner and snapped her fingers, towards one of her guards, pointing to the shadow so he'd know that Judy was hiding there "Think about it," Bellwether said "90 percent of the population united against a common enemy. We'll be unstoppable!"

The ram guard quietly made his way to the shadow before jumping out from around the corner to grab Judy, but instead of seeing the rabbit officer he saw the stuffed statue of a prehistory rabbit holding a spear. The guard grunted in confusion before the sound of a pipe falling caught the guards and Bellwether's attention. They turned to where the sound came from just in time to see Nick running, with Judy leaning against his side for support, towards the exit of the exhibit.

"Over there!" Bellwether shouted.

The ram guard quickly chased after the duo as Nick quickly slipped under the barricade as he held Judy in his right arm and the gun case in his left arm. He ran towards the entrance of the museum as fast as he could but then Judy suddenly lost her footing on the floor, thus slowing down Nick's stride as he tried to adjust his grip on his friend. Nick quickly looked to his side and saw the ram guard charging towards him on his left side. Nick held Judy close to his side as he took the impact from the ram that charged into him and knocked the duo into a pit with Nick losing his grip on the gun case. Nick and Judy landed hard on their sides before they looked up to see that they were trapped in the pit. Nick turned his attention to Judy as worry filled his mind and heart.

"Are you okay?" Nick asked as he held up a hand towards Judy.

Judy gave Nick a reassuring smile, making Nick sigh in relief that she wasn't in anymore pain, before they heard the sound of Bellwether's feet above them as they turned their attention to the lamb. Bellwether held the case in her hands as she let out a laugh of triumph.

"You should have just stuck to being a carrot farmer, huh." Bellwether told them in a mocking voice "It really is too bad, I did like you."

Judy glared up at Bellwether in anger "What are you going to do, kill me?!"

"Oh no, of course not." Bellwether said with a chuckle before smirking as she pulled out the gun and pointed it towards Nick "He is."

Bellwether pulled the trigger and shot Nick in the neck with the pallet, making him shout in pain before falling to the ground.

"No!" Judy shouted as she crawled over to Nick's side and placed her hands on the fox's back "Oh Nick!"

Nick grunted in pain as the serum began to affect his systems while Bellwether pulled out her phone and called the ZPD.

"Yes, police, there's a savage fox in the natural history museum! Officer Hopps is down! Please hurry!"

Judy gripped Nick's shirt in terror before she said to him "No Nick, don't do this. Fight it!"

"Oh, but he can't help it, can he?" Bellwether called out after she hung up her phone and placed it in her coat pocket "Since predators are biologically pre-exposed to be savages and can be just as dangerous as the humans that hunted us back in the old days. I wouldn't be surprised if that little girl, what was her name? Ella, ended up becoming a hunter one day, but of course she won't live long enough to do so."

Nick let out an angry snarl as his back jerked up underneath Judy's paws and made the rabbit back away in terror. Nick's eyes flashed open as a wild look appeared on his face... Nick had become a savage.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty Three**

Judy's eyes were filled with terror as she stared at her now savage friend for a moment before quickly running as fast as she could while Nick charged at her, snarling and barking like a beast. Judy paid no attention to Bellwether's mocking words as he threw a stuffed model of a deer to slow down the fox, tripping by accident as she fell down and watched as Nick tore the deer model to shreds. The rabbit tried to hide somewhere but ended up backing against the wall of the pit as Nick snarled at her, as if he was going to tear her to shreds next.

"So that's it?" Judy asked Bellwether, who was now standing above her with a wicked smile on her face. "Prey and predator fear each other and you stay in power?

"Pretty much." Bellwether said "I'll figure out how to fix that little bump in the road that Jefferson made, but yeah, pretty soon only prey will fear predators more then the other."

"That'll never work!" Judy exclaimed.

"Fear always works!" Bellwether gloated "And I'll dart every single predator in Zootopia to keep it that way!"

"But what about the prey? They're not going to believe that you can cure them but cannot cure the predators!" Judy exclaimed.

"Well then, If I have to I'll even dart prey animals as well if they so much as try to interferes with my plans, like you did."

Judy gasped as Nick crept closer and closer and closer until...

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Judy screamed

"AAAAHHHHGGGGGGHH!"

Bellwether jumped when she heard that second scream beside her and turned to see that it was one of her own minions who had screamed. He looked like he had seen a ghost as he pointed at something and stammered fearfully. Bellwether was about to ask what was wrong when she looked at the direction of the ram's pointed arm... and all the color drained from her face.

It was Mr. Manchas, standing there not to far away from the pair as he snarled and came closer to the pair. Bellwether was so scared that she dropped the gun, allowing it to drop into the pit and reached for her coat pocket for her phone with shaking arms. Just when she thought it couldn't get worse, the savage predators, including Mr. Otterton emerged from the shadows, circling around the pair as fear took over their whole bodies.

"Remain calm..." Bellwether told herself, even thought she was terrified beyond all rational thought "Remain calm... don't make eye contact... don't make any sudden movements..." She was shaking so badly that she dropped her phone into the pit but before she could react Nick, who had somehow managed to escape the pit, snarled at her and was now staring eye to eye with the horrified lamb.

"C-Can we panic now boss?" The ram asked Bellwether.

"Y-Y-YES!" Bellwether screamed before she and her goon ran for their lives, screaming as the savage predators ran down the hall after the rams. They ran as fast as they could as they passed several exhibits. When Bellwether saw an exit she ran for it with her guards but then the door burst open as savage prey animals charged in, making them run the other way. As they continued to run for their lives, the rams were taken out one by one. One was tackled by the savage large cats and dragged away when he tried to hide in the lobby, another was taken away by savage bears when he tried to hide in the astronomy room and the last one was taken away by savage prey animals, when he tried to hide in the medieval section.

Bellwether, now all alone, dove into an exhibit made for kids to play in based on sports of all kinds. Catching her breath behind a giant football, the lamb peered out from behind the ball and looked around. She waited for something, anything to come around the corner but nothing emerged. She didn't even hear a sound as she slowly crept out and looked around.

Panting heavily, Bellwether looked around as she tried to find any sign of life but there was nothing. She sighed in relief as she adjusted her glasses and laughed as she turned to walk away... and came face to face with Nick!

Bellwether screamed as the fox tackled her and pinned her down. Snarling, Nick bared his teeth as Bellwether tried to wriggle free but failed. Fear consumed her as she stared at Nick's widen wild eyes in terror before he opened his mouth, baring his fangs as she lamb cried "No! No! It can't end like this!"

As Nick held her down so he could bite her neck the lamb cried "No! No! NOOOOOOOO!"

Bellwether braced herself for the deathly blow... but then Nick started to laugh as he got up and said "Oh man, you should've seen the look on your face! You were all like 'please don't eat me!' and I was all 'I'm a savage and i'm going to eat you!"

"Wha-Wha wah?" Bellwether asked in shock before saying "But... you turned savage!"

"Nope, I was faking it." Nick said before he took out the pallet from his shirt pocket "I switched a blueberry with this little pallet when you weren't looking."

"But... you killed Judy!" the lamb exclaimed.

"No he didn't." said a voice.

Bellwether jumped to see Judy, alive and well, limping towards her with help from Finnick and she held up the gun, the lamb's phone and placed them in front of the lamb "Did I mention that when I was little I preformed a play about my dreams? I was really convincing."

"But those... the other savages... how?" Bellwether asked

"Let's just say that those 'savage' animals only need a little music therapy and they're as tamed as babies." Finnick said "And it was my idea anyway. Oh, and let's not forget your friends."

He snapped his fingers and the savage bears, two polar bears and two grizzly bears, dragged out the goons, who were hanging by their shirts in the bears jaws in terror. Bellwether could not believe this as she stared at the other savages, not more like obedient pets as they sat on their rears awaiting for their next order.

"Well, you still don't have proof!" Bellwether said "I can frame you like I framed Lionheart! It's my word against yours."

"Try your word against yours." Judy said, holding out her carrot pin as she pressed the play button.

"And i'll dart every single predator in Zootopia to Keep it that way." Bellwether's recorded voice said "If I have to I'll even dart prey animals so they don't try to interfere with my plans."

Bellwether was shocked. Soon the ZPD arrested her and her goons and dragged them away while Nick and Judy turned their attention to another problem at hand... Ella.

* * *

Later Ella had been checked into a hospital and the doctors used the cure Mrs. Otterton had given them to help her. Nick was worried because he knew no one in Zootopia had ever operated on a human before and was even more worried when the doctors say that the cure might or might not work.

After the doctors did all they can Judy found Nick sitting inside Ella's hospital room, tears falling down his face and clutching Ella's toy fox Hal in his arms. Judy sat down next to the fox saying "Ella's going to be alright Nick... I can feel it."

"What if she doesn't?" Nick asked "Ella is... is so important to me... I.. I promised my mom that I'd have a child of my own before she died and... What if I lose my baby girl, like I lost my mom? How will I move on with such a heartache?"

Judy scooted closer to Nick before saying "You know... I felt the same way when my older sister Esmeralda died in an accident seven years ago... but mom and dad told me that no matter what happens, those you love aren't gone forever... they always find a way to remain close even if you can't see them... you just know they're there."

"That doesn't cheer me up one bit." Nick said

"Me neither." Judy said "Still... you make a wonderful dad."

"Last time you said that it was because of Finnick and he wasn't even a kid." Nick said

"This time it's because you care for Ella, a real child you love so much you'd take care of her even if it meant you'd get hurt yourself... And that's what being a real parent is all about."

Judy expected Nick to just scoot away or give her a look but instead he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight and the bunny hugged him back to comfort him as he said "Thank you... Judy... for everything."

Judy smiled before she heard something and her ears perked up as she said "Don't thank me just yet."

"Huh?" Nick asked before his ears caught the sound of a familiar voice. A voice he feared he would never hear ever again... The sound of Ella's sweet little voice saying one special word that made his heart leap with pure joy.

"Daddy!"


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty Four**

Nick had never been so happy in his whole life when he saw Ella waking up and staring at him with tired but sparkling eyes and a warm smile on her face. He almost turned into a mess of tears as he approached her and wiped his tears off his face with his paws and smiled happily.

"I'm right here kiddo." Nick said as he placed his right hand on Ella's cheeks lovingly.

With Nick's help, Judy climbed onto the bed to sit near Ella's side as she placed her hand on the young girl's own hand out of comfort.

"It's good to see you awake," Judy said with a smile "How are you feeling?"

"A little tired." Ella said softly.

"That's a bit expected," Judy said "It's going to take a while for you to recover after being infected by the night howler poison for so long."

"What happened while I as out?" Ella asked curiously.

Nick and Judy told her the story of what happened back at the museum, the hustle they pulled to trick Bellwether into confessing and gave her a taste of her own medicine through Finnick's own idea to turn the savages against her, leaving the lamb so terrified by her experience with the savages that she'd be too traumatize to try something like that ever again. Ella listened with fascination, shock and surprise at what had transpired while she had been unconscious.

"That's really amazing." Ella said

"Yeah, and that's not all." Nick said "If it weren't for Mister and Misses Otterton you wouldn't even be here talking with us right now. It's pretty amazing that despite him being in his savage state, Mr. Otterton was able to help you by telling his wife what kind of herbs she needed to give you."

"What's going to happen to the savage animals now?" Ella asked

"Don't worry, they've been given the antidote as well," Judy said with a reassuring smile "Their all in rehab right now and the doctors say that they should be back to themselves once they wake up."

"And what about..." Ella started.

"Mr. Jefferson?" Nick guessed with a smirk "Let's just say Chief Bogo placed a call earlier to your mayor about the whole thing in Zootopia while we were in the middle of the case. By now I suspect that slippery eel will be getting quite a welcoming committee when he gets home to Willow River Town, not one I think he'd be expecting."

* * *

Jefferson was riding home on the train towards his destination as he relaxed in his seat with a smirk on his face. He was finally home free, away from the city full of beasts that he had detest ever since he got to Zootopia.

"What an ordeal, thank goodness it's all over now." he said to himself "I won't have to see those pathetic animals ever again. And if anyone asks me why those three brats aren't with me, I'll just simply say that those beasts have taken them prisoner. That'll make people so outraged they'll probably revert back to killing them out of revenge or something. Either way, it serves them right."

The train soon came to the Willow River Town train station where Jefferson grabbed his suitcase and walked out of the train cart with a bright smile on his face, one that quickly fell when he saw Mayor Connor, Jason, Isabella, their families and a bunch of police officers standing in front of him as they glared with displeasure at him.

"M-M-M-Mayor Connor!" Stuttered Jefferson fearfully as he tried to cover it with a smile "What a surprise, I didn't expect to see you so soon!"

"Well, Mr. Jefferson. That's a funny story. I got a phone call from Chief Bogo over at the Zootopia ZPD, and he was not happy as far as I could tell." Mayor Connor said with her arms crossed over her chest "He told me you were responsible for the fallowing; one, starting a savage outbreak with prey animals thanks to your cookies, two, treating the children you were supposed to look after as slaves, even allowing one to wander around lost and alone in the city and suffer a horrible near death with poisonous plants, three, aiding a terrorist sheep into creating the night howler pallets to scare the prey into fearing the predators, shall I go on!?"

"I-I-I can explain!" Exclaimed Jefferson before being kicked in between his legs by Jason, causing him to keel over in pain just as the policemen slapped cuffs on him and dragged him away.

"You'll have plenty of time to explain yourself in prison." the head officer said as he watched his men drag the hurting Jefferson away.

* * *

Back with the others they had received word about it from the news that Jefferson has been arrested as well as Bellwether and Jason and Isabella have been safely returned to their beloved families before Nick turned off the TV and Ella smiled.

"I'm glad they're safe." Ella said

"And I'm glad I didn't lose my kid... I would've been really sad if I never saw you ever again." Nick said before he shook his head, adding "Great, now I'm getting all mushy! Kids, they ruin you the moment you meet them."

At that Ella pulled him into a hug and Nick hugged her back, shedding one last tear of joy before kissing her forehead tenderly.

Just then the door to Ella's room opened and in stepped a female clouded leopard wearing a doctor's outfit. The leopard had bright blue eyes that stared in amazement when she saw Ella awake then smiled.

"Oh thank goodness," the doctor leopard said as she gently closed the door behind her "We were afraid that you weren't going to make it little one. My name is Dr. Delius and I just came in to check on you and see how you were feeling. Are you experiencing any headaches or any aches of pain in your body?"

"I'm just feeling a little tired, that's all." Ella said as Dr. Delius walked up to the bed.

Dr. Delius took out a stethoscope and placed it over Ella's chest to check her heartbeat and breathing. Then she took out a ophthalmoscopy to take a look at Ella's eyes to see if there was anything wrong with them and found nothing out of the ordinary.

"Well, it seems like your breathing and eye sight are just fine, but we need to keep you overnight to make sure that there aren't any side affects from the night howler poisoning." Dr. Delius said as she looked over her chart before turning her attention to Judy "That will also include you Miss Hopps. Your leg will need time to recover so that means no putting strain on it for at least a few weeks."

Judy's ears drooped down as she held a look of displeasure on her face. She was not happy about being pulled off the police force for a couple of weeks because of her leg, not to mention that she would be stuck with deskwork until her leg was completely healed. Ella had a look of depression as well since she would have to stay in the hospital overnight and wouldn't be able to go back home with Nick. Nick didn't like the idea of leaving Ella and Judy in the hospital by themselves, but he didn't want to take the risk of Ella not being here in case there might be a side effect with the night howler poisoning.

'Well, better safe then sorry... wait, I have an idea.' Nick thought to himself before he spoke to Dr. Delius.

"Well, if Ella and Judy are going to stay here in the hospital overnight, then I want the two of them to stay in the same room together." Nick said in a serious voice "It's better if these two are together so they don't get lonely."

Dr. Delius considered this for a moment before nodding in approval before she walked out of the room. Ella looked at Nick and smiled at her soon to be father.

"Thanks Daddy." Ella said

"No problem sweetheart," Nick said before she handed Hal to Ella "Now get some rest. Judy and I need to have a little talk about something just outside, okay?"

Ella nodded as she cuddled with Hal and fell asleep. Judy was a little concerned about what she and Nick needed to talk about as she jumped down from the bed and slowly limped after Nick, who walked beside her at a slow pace. Once they were out the door, Nick closed it behind them and led Judy over to a few chairs and had her sit in one of them while Nick faced her with a serious look on his face.

"Okay Carrots, I think it's time that we got down to explanations," Nick said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Judy gulped as she looked up at Nick uneasily.

"W-What do you mean?" Judy asked

"I want to know why you carry around fox repellent with you and why you were acting strange back in Tundra Town when Ella told us about what Bellwether and her rams were planning at the time."

Judy was a little hesitant in answering Nick's questions because she had a bad feeling about how he would react when she told him about her past and what she had almost said at the press conference. Still, Judy took a deep breath and began to answer Nick's questions.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty Five**

"And that's pretty much the whole story." Judy said once she was done explaining herself "That's why I... carry the spray and acted weird in Tundra Town."

Nick stood there in silence for a moment before he frowned, saying "So... this whole time... you were afraid of predators... all because of a bully fox... what a shock."

Nick turned his back, looking hurt as Judy frowned as sadness overcame her "Nick, please, I never meant to offend you. It's not like I'm scared of you. I know you would never hurt anyone, you never hurt Ella and you never hurt me... at least not physically. I almost said that predators were going savage because of... their DNA or whatever it was before those savage prey animals barged in... but I'm really glad it happened... because then I would've made the biggest mistake of my whole life... hurting so many animals, hurting so many loved ones... more importantly, I would've been a horrible friend by hurting you. Still... I'm so very sorry!"

Judy as on the verge of tears as she waited for Nick to turn his back, but when he didn't she cried harder, trying to hoist herself up onto the big chair fully before she lost her balance and fell. Before she hit the ground a par of arms caught her and held her tight yet gently. Judy opened her teary eyes and realized that Nick had saved her and was smiling warmly before he said "I forgive you... I'd forgive you even if you did make that mistake about our case... because that's the kind of friend I am."

"Really?" Judy asked

"Really..." Nick said before he added "Also... I admit I was a tad worried you'd turn savage like those animals that attacked us at the ZPD and attack me... so in a way, that kind of makes us even."

Judy sniffled as she and Nick shared a hug together, the fox gently comforting his closest friend as much as he could. He had grown to care and love his new friend so much he forgot why he hated all prey animals in the first place. Sure the memory was still in his mind, but the pain and hatred he felt from it was no longer there... It was as if Judy had been the one true friend he had been waiting for his whole life. And he was the friend Judy had been waiting for.

Their tender moment was interrupted when Judy grunted in pain of her wounded leg, which Nick had accidently pushed against, and he placed the rabbit down saying "Sorry! That was an accident. Is there anything I can do for you? Like, fluff your pillow before you go to sleep or a glass of warm... uh, carrot juice?"

"No, nothing like that." Judy said before she handed Nick a piece of paper saying "But... I do have one request, that is... if you are willing to accept it."

Nick took the piece of paper and opened it, revealing an application to the ZPD. Nick was shocked by this, before a smile grew on his face and he felt honored before he asked "May I barrow your pen?"

Judy smiled and handed Nick the pen.

* * *

Several months later...

After such a long and challenging time training in the police academy, Nick Wilde felt proud as he wore his new fox sized police uniform and drank his cup of coffee as he listened to his new partner Judy Hopps presented a speech at his police academy graduation ceremony. His whole time at the academy felt like a blur in his mind but Judy encouraged him and told him about her time at the academy, she even knocked out a full grown rhino during her sparring session and left him with a black eye and a fat lip! Now that was something he could be impressed with.

He endured ice walls, scorching sandstorms, high climbing rope ladders, several other obstacles and more. He even had his tail stepped on several times by the other cadets and once fell head first into a giant toilet. Still he pressed onward because there were two people who believed in him more then anyone else in the world; Judy and his newly adopted daughter Ella.

When Nick adopted Ella as his legal daughter, to which everyone in the ZPD supported, including Chief Bogo, the news went global about Ella, not only being the first human to be an adopted child to an animal but the first human resident to live in Zootopia. For this day, the day her father could finally start his new career as a cop, Ella wore a headband with decorative fox ears on them and a belt with a decorative fox tail hanging from the back, making it look like it was her tail. Nick had even brought a new home to live in, a regular house that was perfect for a single parent fox to raise his only child with everything he could ever ask for... but it was truly perfect because of Ella.

Judy was honored to pin on Nick's badge and saluted to him before all the other cadets cheered on happily, throwing their caps into the air and welcoming him into their union with open arms. And for the first time in forever, Nick felt like he belonged somewhere important... and he would never trade it for anything else. He also asked Judy if she would like to move in with him and Ella and she agreed, after all her two noisy neighbors were starting to get on her nerves. Afterwards she threw out her fox repellent and told others in her family to do the same, which they were more then happy to do.

She also learned that her old bully, Gideon Grey, the fox she told Nick about, had mellowed out of his jerk ways and had become a baker, and a business partner with the Hopps family as well as her father's friend. When they reunited Gideon apologized to Judy and Judy forgave him. Nick was more then happy to snack on his pies, and accidently dropped the pie, resulting in splatting Judy all over with pie filling and crust. Judy got her revenge when she splatted him with a pie and soon started a food fight that everyone was enjoying happily.

Zootopia improved as well. Once the whole night howler thing was cleared up and the savages cured and returned to their true selves, predators and prey quickly realized that they were just being silly in fearing each other and were deeply ashamed for judging the other so quickly for the longest time. Despite what they had been through, they forgave and forgot the whole past misunderstandings and judgments with one another and embraced each other, not as predator and prey, but as brothers and sisters in one united species for all metropolis, fallowing the example set by Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps themselves, guess they were just the heroes the city had needed all along to finally put the prejudice among the citizens behind them for good.

Now there was one question worth asking; will Zootopia forgive the humans?

One average Sunday as Ella had just finished up her homework she looked out her bedroom window and saw something strange, a bus filled with humans with suitcases and other things moving from one side of the street to another. What was going on? She walked over to Nick's room, where her father had been sprawled across the bed and snoring up a storm after his first long week as a cop. She gently nudged him and when he woke up he yawned and said "Ella? What is it?"

"There's a bus with humans in it outside." Ella said "What's going on?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you about that." Nick said with a smile "It turns out several humans from your old home were so inspired by our story that they want to come and live in Zootopia too. And guess what? Everyone's welcoming them with open arms! Judy's even giving tours and showing them how to live in Zootopia. Isn't it great? Guess this means the whole 'humans hunting animal' thing is behind us for good."

Ella smiled before she frowned and Nick asked "What's wrong Ella? Aren't you excited?"

"I am but... I guess... since i'm not going to be the only human resident anymore... I guess I'm not that special anymore."

"Baby, before I met you, I never had anything special to call my own." Nick said "Back then all I cared about was myself and about making money. But now I have something far more important then waiting for my next payday or having the best job in the world... The best daughter anyone could ask for. I knew you were special the moment we met...and I knew you were my daughter the moment I fell in love with you. And believe me kid, that's special enough for anyone, nobody will ever be able to take that away from you."

Ella smiled before she hugged her father and Nick hugged her back affectionately before the fox said "I love you honey."

"I love you too daddy." Ella said with a smile.

Nick smiled as he hugged his daughter close before he said "Now come on sweetie, let's meet our new neighbors."

Ella smiled as she took her father's hand and headed outside to meet their new human residents with smiles and open arms. Ella knew that everyone was going to love living in Zootopia, because in this city anyone can truly be anything they want, human and animal alike. If a bunny can become a cop, a fox can become a parent to a human, there's a chance for anyone to become anything they want... no matter how crazy their dreams are.

 **The End**


End file.
